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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23678560">Darkness within</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hulk223/pseuds/Hulk223'>Hulk223</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:49:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,439</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23678560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hulk223/pseuds/Hulk223</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>this is about a man pushed to his limits against the darkness in him and his battle to fight back.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Female Character/Original Male Character</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>My newest idea <br/>	A. Characters<br/> 1. Jaden Adams- Jaden Adams is the main character of the story as he is what is called a Striker who works as a hunter of supernatural beings and other persons of interest while at the same time dealing with his amnesia and struggling to find what happened in the past that resulted in his abandonment by his birth parents. He has black hair with a grey streak through it as well as blue greyish eyes that have a look of anxiety at what he will find in his journey as well as anger at his abandonment even though he doesn't have an answer for it yet and at the same time, Jaden has a decent amount of scars on his body such as a scar in the form of a star on his lower torso which he obtained from fighting a werewolf who was particularly nasty to fight and a scar on his chest in the form of a claw slash from a vampire that annoys him due to him feeling weak from that fight. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  If you were to meet Jaden in someplace like the club he usually frequents due to his knowledge that it's a good place to pick up info for his missions he would be in a bad mood and ignore you or give you some reason to leave him alone but those who know him are aware he has a good heart and cares about people but he doesn't like showing it and he also could be found in the library due to his love of reading as well as his love of cooking due to his adopted family teaching him. Jaden's allies and loved ones consist of his adopted mother and father Cade and Teresa as well as his older brother and sister Julian and Kendall who work in the police force and the medical field and can help Jaden when they cab which he appreciates. </p><p>  But at the same time, Jaden doesn't date or have a lover due to his belief that he has no reason for love at this point and so he wants to be alone for now. Jaden's skills include his knowledge of the many beings he hunts down as well as the possible targets in the government that could be problematic for him and so Jaden trains every chance he gets to improve his skills which rang from hand to hand and usage of weapons to know how to use any other item to their full potential which comes in handy at different times. Jaden's main weapons are his sword which is lethal to any of his targets but since it's steel he can kill Werewolves with it and he mostly uses it to kill his foes. </p><p> </p><p> But at the same time, he is not above using his pistols and his hand to hand skills as he carries many types of ammo such as silver bullets and explosives in his gear since Silver bullets can hurt Werewolves as well along with a set of stakes for when he fights Vampires. But Jaden does possess a special power in his blood which some might refer to as a "Blessing" but he refers to it as a "Curse" and what it is unknown. Overall Jaden is a powerful being and wants to be left to himself. </p><p> </p><p> 2.Ryan - Ryan is Jaden's mentor in the line of work of being a Striker as he has been in the lifestyle since he was young in the age range of around 19 to right now at the age of 25 and knows a lot of info such as weaknesses of the different beings he hunts as well as what he needs to improve in his skills due to refusing to be rusty and constantly practices his skills to a great extent. Ryan has black hair that's dyed due to his real hair color which is red not being good for him as well as blue eyes and so Ryan doesn't care what he looks like as long as he keeps taking care of his enemies while at the same time keeping an eye on his student and helping him out if need be. </p><p> </p><p> He has a stern yet friendly personality as he enjoys spending time with Jaden and while he knows about Jaden's refusal to date or gets to know anyone at this time he is reminding Jaden or J as Ryan calls him to have fun once in a while and get out in the world which Jaden denies as he doesn't want to be caught up in anything.</p><p> </p><p>  Ryan uses a small sword for his close combat skills which is in the form of a small scimitar as Ryan is a better fighter when he is trying to stay and work on the enemy's weak spots.  Ryan also uses a set of punching daggers for up and close fighting as he likes to mix it up when he's not shooting at his targets from afar but overall Ryan is a seasoned warrior who Jaden sees as a worthy ally and someone he's glad to know. </p><p>  3. Julianna - Julianna is a young woman who works as a bounty hunter who takes on cases just like Jaden and who has gotten on decent terms with Jaden but she is unnerved by his desire to have a professional relationship with her and wants to get to know him more so she has made it her mission to get closer and see what is underneath his stoic and somewhat cold attitude.  Julianna or Julia, as she likes to be called by her friends and allies, has raven hair and dark green eyes which look lovely to most men but she refuses to date any guy that doesn't meet her standards as they would have to be kind and friendly as well as not bigoted and overall be a good guy which she wants to see if Jaden fits. </p><p> </p><p> She has a very calm and kind personality but she can be stern and cold to the people who annoy her which makes her similar to Jaden plus Julianna can use many weapons and skills in her combat style as she likes to use traps and combine her skills with hand to hand combat with her weapons to overwhelm the enemies before she kills them. Julianna enjoys spending time with her family and friends and overall is a good person to rely on in a pinch</p><p> </p><p>. </p><p>  4. Master Kaine - This is the leader of the Strikers who had been fighting against the supernatural beings that had been on this world for the last many years and have the scars and injuries to prove this along with the mass amount of knowledge and experience he had accumulated during his time as a warrior. Kaine has grey hair and one green eye on his left socket with the other socket holding a brown eye as well as his main outfit being a grey jacket over a black shirt over a pair of dark pants and boots on while he had a set of pistols holstered to his side and his hands holding a pair of escrima sticks that he used with proficiency and skill. </p><p> </p><p> Master Kaine uses a good amount of skills in his hunting missions with his main skills being the usage of devices to trap his targets while targeting their weak points before killing them or taking them to the Prison Center with Jaden helping him sometimes as he would work alongside him and Sam helping Kaine out too. Overall Kaine is a good character who works to keep the world in a balanced and working order while at the same time helping Jaden with his problems. </p><p> </p><p>  B. Weapons and skills -</p><p> 1. Jaden's style of combat and main gear - Jaden focuses on using a style of combat that relies on sneaking around the enemies at certain times and killing them from there but at the same time he is also able to engage his enemies with powerful blows to their bodies that will usually bruise them and leave them open to attacks that kill them. Jaden also uses devices such as smoke bombs and stun bombs to keep his enemies off guard before he then kills them or injures them to the point that he can take them in.<br/> 2. Ryan's skills - Sam uses a set of projectile weapons for knocking his enemies out or killing them when he needs to be stealthy while at the same time using his fists for hand to hand combat with punching daggers on his hands as well to increase his skills in that field and so for the last bit of gear Sam utilizes staff to keep his enemies at a distance and give them some good wounds. <br/> 3. Julianna's abilities and gear - The female bounty hunter prefer to use a sniper rifle to sneak shots towards her enemies and kill them at a distance before she engages her closer foes in close combat and then kills them easily. Julianna uses a style of combat known as the subterfuge style which relies on sabotaging her foes in different ways before taking them down and so she has offered to teach Jaden but he wants to use his skills and so has refused for now.<br/> 4. Master Kaine's weapons and style - Kaine relies on his savage style of combat which has a good amount of claw strikes and kicks as well as using a set of gauntlets to increase his strike's power for the fight which can help him out greatly. Kaine also can team with Jaden and Sam to increase the foes that are taken down but Jaden prefers to work on his missions and at the same time is willing to work together if the need arises. Overall Kaine is a strong fighter and can handle himself. <br/> C- Locations <br/> 1. The Striker Base - This is the main headquarters of the Strikers who serve as a balance between the cold pragmatism of the Black Rangers who serve as the spies and assassins of the city of Garticus and the merciful yet hardened ways of the House of Salvation who are the medical part of the city with their spies as they are looking for new members too. </p><p> In the base, you can find the Master's quarters and the combat rooms as well as a set of many rooms for the Strikers to use as their quarters unless they have a place of their own and so guests can find many Strikers come and go from there. </p><p> 2.  Julianna's house/base- In the middle of the city of Garticus Julianna has her modest living quarters which houses her gear and her main way of getting targets which is her Laptop and so as she goes through her days she also keeps up with her finances and her living duties here which she enjoys for the most part. Julianna has also made a special part of her front door usable for guests as they just need to put either their eye or fingerprint to the door and it will read it. </p><p> The City of Garticus - This magnificent city is the main setting of the story for now and is the home of Jaden and the Strikers as well as Julianna and the citizens there as well. In the entrance to the city is the gates which have guards watching whoever comes in and out and as you were to walk into the main streets you would find many shops and stores lining the way to the main road which led to the intersections that led to either the main part of the city.  </p><p> This part contained the city government building and the other buildings that are important before heading to the other parts of the city. In the government building was the leader of the city named Leo Marston who was the head of the council and then there was his assistant named Julie Larson who was the PR person. </p><p> The military academy and the Striker headquarters -  In this part of the grand city is where you will find the main military forces and the school for the Military where many people come to learn how to be a member of one of the main four forces which are the Guards, the Black Rangers, The Royal Airmen and then the normal soldiers of the military.  </p><p> At the same time, there's the Striker base where the chosen members are worked to the limit before going through training and then weapon selections. Once they were done they headed out for some training missions to see what they could do before going on to different things like Demolitions and Assassination of high priority targets.  <br/> D- Weapons and terms <br/> Weapons- <br/> 1. Jaden's swords - Jaden brings with him two swords made of a special metal known as Zerodicum which could cut through anything and are called Hellbringer and Liferipper as they do that to the enemies and targets that Jaden goes after. Hellbringer is not too long as it is a short sword and has a symbol on its hilt that represents the Strikers which is a raven with its wings spread out while the blade is pretty durable and Jaden carries it in a sheath on his hip while Liferipper which is the same type of sword is carried on Jaden's shoulder so he can pull it out and use it at any time. </p><p> 2. Jaden's pistols - Jaden wields two pistols named Dread and Anguish as they carry his emotions at the idea that he was abandoned by his parents which is the reason why the first gun is called Dread and his second gun is called Anguish due to his pain at not being able to remember anything.  Dread is a  small pistol with a mold of a Desert Eagle and it carries the same brand as his swords while Anguish has a wording on it that reads "  I have no fear of death and the ones who should fear me are my enemies " which energizes Jaden when he needs reassurance that he's doing the right thing. </p><p> Terms-<br/> 1. Tainted Blood-  This is a big part of Jaden that no one knows about and even Jaden doesn't know it exists due to his mind not reacting to it until now as it has settled into dormancy but unknown to Jaden his sister suspects he has this as he had moments of dark power when he has been stressed out or emotional and so she wants to keep this a secret till she knows for sure. The Tainted Blood has taken on the form of a mark on his eye in the shape of a cross with black veins coming out of it and so as it is dormant the mark will pulse with a sinister feeling coming from it. </p><p> 2.  The Cycle of Betrayal - This is something that has been hidden from Jaden for some time by Master Kaine as he knows something about this that affects Jaden and so he has sworn to tell him when the time is right. All he knows for now is that it involves Jaden's true family and what they did in the past.</p><p> 3. The Sinister Voice - This is related to the Tainted Blood that resides in Jaden as it has awakened and tempted Jaden to kill in his missions against people that don't deserve it but he has kept to his moral code and resisted but now it has grown somewhat stronger and is now fighting against him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The prologue to the action</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>here's how the story started</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the past Mankind has been unaware of the existence of the beings known as the Creatures of the Night with such beings as the Vampires and the Werewolves along with creatures known as The Devourers which were beings with the desire to sate their hunger through devouring their hearts. So at that time Mankind was unknowing of these beings for some time with the leader of the world Monarch Zero working to keep the world safe from any threats to them.</p><p> </p><p>But at the same time, the leaders of the creatures who were known as the Dark Leader and Lilith the Shadow Queen were working to make their power known to the world who didn't believe in them by crushing the powerful people of the world.  This continued for some time before Lilith decided to lead an assault on the unsuspecting world with the Dark King refusing to help her due to his own reasons.  Lilith was defeated and sent to hide and recover her wounds with the side effect being that the world was aware of their existence to the point that humanity created a special force to handle them which was known as Strikers.</p><p> </p><p>Strikers were trained to handle the dark beings of the night and so they fought the creatures of the night for the next amount of time before they soon received a helper in the form of Jaden Adams who was from a family of Strikers and had a talent for the kind of work that they did.  This was useful to the Strikers for their own reasons so they allowed Jaden into the force. Jaden had amnesia due to unknown causes and so he worked hard to keep it from affecting him before he then became one of the Striker's best operatives.  So now at this time, Jaden was now working on his own due to his skills being good enough for it.</p><p> </p><p>Now here's where the story starts.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. the deathbringer and the beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>people get introduced to Jaden and his comrades as well as Jaden's first target</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the night time air hit the citizens of the city of Graticus many of them had expressions of happiness and awe on their faces as they did their daily activities such as shopping for their dinner or other items while at the same time thinking to themselves that they shouldn't be out too late due to the creatures of the night that attacked them ever since the last few years. At the same time as the moon shined down on the big and grim-looking building that stood as the headquarters of the Strikers in a certain room stood a young man who was shirtless and appeared to be finishing his shower for the day. </p><p>Standing in the shower the young man had a frown on his face while he cleaned out the last bit of shampoo from his hair and said to himself "what do I feel is going to happen during this mission? I don't know but I will deal with it when it happens"before stepping out of the shower. As the nameless man cleared his body off of any water, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw to his amusement a face devoid of any baby fat and full of black hair with a silver streak through it as well as blue-greyish eyes that showed his emotions for the moment which were amusement and humor. </p><p>Then as he headed over to his closet and pulled out a black Henley shirt he pulled it over his head before it fit his body nicely and then pulled on his jeans and boots before he looked at his ID which said " Jaden Adams". The young man smiled to himself as he finished getting dressed before he turned to his gear which was on the bed in front of him in a case and said to himself"better be prepared for whatever happens, I might get injured but at least I don't leave anything to chance" as he ran his hand down his hair. </p><p>The now named Jaden then picked up his gear which consisted of his swords and pistols as well as his other gear which was some knives and extra explosives in a set of pouches before walking out of the door and put in a special code which locked his door so no one could get in. If there was one thing that bugged Jaden it was unnecessary amounts of people in his room because he liked his space when he was in a room as he felt kinda claustrophobic and liked having some room to himself. So Jaden shook his head before muttering " Today feels weird to me, better go check out what's bothering me" as he stepped into the elevator before sending it to the garage. </p><p>Once in the Garage, Jaden walked in before he saw Russell and Oliver who worked on the vehicles for the other Strikers sitting near his car. Jaden's vehicle was an awesome (at least in the eyes of the other Strikers) jeep with space for his gear and at the same time, a plug for his phone as in Jaden's eyes he needed his tunes which some of the other Strikers could deal with when they went on missions with him but some of the older members wanted no music when they were on duty which Jaden could respect. </p><p>As Jaden walked towards them he said " You guys wasting your time doing nothing or do I need to remind you what you could be doing ?" with a raised eyebrow along with a smirk on his face. Oliver said, " No bro we know what to do and we were just thinking what to do for your car if you were ok with us working on it, and making it better you know ?" with Jaden nodding at that moment before he said " well I got to go but I'll let you know what I want ok?" as he then hopped into his car. </p><p>The young man then turned it on before he turned to look at Oliver and Russell as he said in an annoyed tone " No one touches my phone charger or makes unnecessary additions to my ride or I will kick them in where it shines ok?" with the mechanics nodding in agreement as Jaden smirked before he pulled out of the garage. When he was about to hit the road Jaden gave a two-fingered salute to his fellow Strikers before driving away while they watched in amusement for a few moments. </p><p>The silence was broken when Oliver said " Wonder where he's going now? I bet he probably has a hint as to where someone is" with Russell shaking his head in agreement before responding with " Let's get back to work" much to Oliver's annoyance as he shook his head.</p><p>A few minutes later as Jaden drove down the road which led to a small cafe it seemed better to him to stop and get a drink and so the young man decided to pick up a coffee for the time being before he headed out to where his first target was. So he parked the car before locking it and walked into the cafe which was pretty busy for the day judging from the number of people that we're heading in and out of the cafe. This was a small cafe that Jaden liked to come to when he had time to kill, and at the same time, Jaden knew his friends and fellow Strikers would come here too due to their good coffee and other food and drink options so he knew it was a good place to be at.</p><p>Jaden walked up to the counter and said " I'll take a small coffee with some milk in it please " before taking out a card that had a good amount of money on it and swiped it into the card reader which gave him a receipt that told him how much money he had on his card. Then as his drink had been made he grabbed his drink before putting his card into his wallet and then was heading out to his car and began sipping some of the coffee while starting the car up. </p><p>On the way to his mission destination, Jaden thought to himself " If I have to get dirty during my hunt for the guy that's I'm after I will, I don't like to fight but I will get down in a fight if I can't use peace" which was true due to Jaden's first instincts to make peace with his targets, but also due to his knowledge that he might have to fight as well cause the targets might be violent and want to duke it out with him which usually caused Jaden to get a lot of injuries which annoyed him.</p><p>Then he drove to a small club where he saw many people standing outside the doors that led into the inside which caused Jaden to smirk in amusement at the level of excitement to enter the club as he grabbed his phone before he put it in his pocket. Then Jaden said to himself "Let's go " as he headed over to the line of people and stood in line to go in. As Jaden was about to go in he saw the bouncer hold his hand out and say " sorry man but I need to see ID ok?" with Jaden nodding in understanding as he gave his ID card to the bouncer who read it and nodded in agreement. </p><p>So then as Jaden entered the club he saw that it was pretty big inside with the bar onto his left and the dance floor in the middle with a stairway leading to the upper floor, and so he went over to the bar and said to the bartender " I'll take a Crimson Typhoon please ?" with his ID in his hand which the bartender noticed and nodded at him before walking over to his spot. </p><p>The bartender who was a young woman with brown hair and a blue streak through it took the small card and looked it over before she said " Right with you sir " as she walked away and started on it. Jaden looked through the club before he saw a man with black hair and brown eyes leading a girl to the top of the upper floor which looked innocent enough to Jaden, but his senses were giving him second thoughts about that so he said " Thanks " to the bartender who nodded and said " Sure thing "with a smile on her face with Jaden returning it. </p><p>The next few moments went by as Jaden kept his eye on the man and woman while he sipped his drink before his eyes widened as he watched the two young adults walk out of the club to the right of the street.  So Jaden then put the cup down before he said to himself " Ok let's get this done " and shook his neck to get some blood through it as he walked out of the club. Once outside the club, Jaden saw to his amusement that his target was making out with the girl on the wall in front of him, and so he said " I don't like this but I need to get info from him " to himself before he headed over to the couple.</p><p>Jaden then gripped the man's shoulder before throwing him against the wall which caused the young man's eyes to glow red for a moment before he said " So I see you're a Striker you'll be fine prey for me " as he lunged at Jaden before Jaden knocked the young girl out, and then drew his pistols before he fired two shots which struck the man's shoulder and knee. The man growled in anger before he shook off the pain, and said " You'll pay for that Striker " as he formed claws on his hands and then slashed out at Jaden. </p><p>The Striker dodged the two slashes and then shook the stiffness out of his neck before he kicked him back at the wall, and said " I wouldn't try anything else as I know what can stop you now " as he whipped out a flask of holy water and then threw it on the lanky being in front of him which caused him to writhe in pain as Jaden smirked, and rushed forward before gripping his neck with enough force to cause a little bruise on it. Jaden's eyes turned cold and merciless as he said " don't think you'll survive this round I will never let anyone I hunt down live to tell the tale"</p><p>Jaden then said in a cold and determined voice " Now talk or I'll make you suffer more pain, do you know where I can find him ?" as Jaden then held out a picture of a man with black hair and silver eyes who had a sneer on his face, and seemed to make Jaden annoyed as he looked down at the picture. The vampire then shook as he said " I won't tell you he'll kill me !" before Jaden drew out his pistol and shot his knee which caused him to scream in pain. Jaden then smirked before kicking the vampire to the wall.</p><p>The supernatural being said with pain in his voice " ok he's in the shopping district of the city but I don't know what he's doing now " with Jaden smirking before he stabbed his captive in the heart with a stake and said " Thanks for the info but I don't leave my targets alive " as he headed back to the bar. Jaden then ordered some water before sipping on it and then said to himself " mental note, writedown the fact that the target was a complete wuss in the report for the Master he'll enjoy it" before heading out of the club.  </p><p>As Jaden headed back to his room that night after having done some training he thought to himself " I wonder if the upcoming events such as the Combat Games will help me learn more about who I am and at the same time help me get my memories back " before meditating for the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. meeting Kendall for the first time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>we meet Jaden's sister for the first time and see how things go</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Jaden was walking through the Striker base during one morning he was also thinking to himself " I should probably go and see Kendall so I can get a checkup and be at my best during my next hunt" as he didn't like the idea of being in a fight without being at his top performance which his friends and comrades in the Strikers agreed with. As he was thinking of this a moment passed before he stopped and heard his name being called behind him.  So Jaden turned around to see a pair of men walking towards him clad in black leather jackets with chuckles coming out of their mouths while looking like they did some hard training a few moments earlier. These were Kyle and Scott who were two of Jaden's best friends and fellow Strikers who helped him out in different missions and so he knew he could trust them with his life. </p><p>Jaden smirked and said " What up guys ?" as he fist-bumped the older-looking man who was standing to the left and had silver hair with green eyes along with a set of tattoos on his face in the form of two smiles with fangs coming out of the mouth while the man on the right said " We were going to get some breakfast you want to come with ?" as he ran his hand through his short spiky blue-dyed hair before Jaden smiled with amusement on his face. He was feeling pretty hungry and decided to go with them before he planned out his day. </p><p>He then said, " Of course I need some food in me right now, and I was hoping we could go out so where should we go ?" with the spiky-haired man shrugging his shoulders as he said " I was thinking Scott here could tell us as I have no damn clue due to me getting not that much sleep  " which the now mentioned Scott smirked at in amusement before he said " Sure why don't we go to the bakery near the training grounds, does that sound good to you Kyle, Jaden ?" with both guys nodding in agreement. This particular eatery was special to Jaden as it helped him get through some weird times when he had started as a Striker and the people who worked there were kind and sweet to him so he had good reasons for going. </p><p>As the three Strikers headed out to the garage where Russell and Oliver were sleepily looking over some vehicles  Scott said in a mocking tone " Hey you twits not up yet ?" with a chuckle coming out of Kyle's mouth, and Jaden was then smirking in a bit of amusement as Russell shook his head in annoyance before he countered with " No we had to get up at 5 this morning is that early for you three ?". Jaden shook his head in exasperation before he said: " Alright we're heading out for some food you want us to pick up anything for you guys ?".</p><p>Oliver shook his head at this and said " No I'm good but I don't know about Mr. Sleepy over here" as he pointed at Russell who was about to fall asleep which made the three other Strikers sigh in playful annoyance.  Then they were heading out to a black Jeep which belonged to Kyle. On the way to the bakery, Kyle turned to Jaden and asked " So how did your mission go last night? I mean did you get any more info about HIM?" with Jaden shaking his head while he looked through his phone for the next moment. As he slid his fingers down his music app on his phone he mentally said " I need something to keep my mind off of what's going on right now, I don't have all the info about why it happened so I need to keep calm and focus" before he looked up at Kyle and Scott. </p><p>Once he was done Jaden said in a tired tone " No nothing yet I swear for every hint I get I am not there yet " which Scott tsked at before he pulled into the bakery parking lot which had a few spots open due to the many cars being there. Scott helped Kyle out of the car before the other Striker said "We'll get him bro don't worry " as he fist-bumped Jaden and saw a small smile appear on his friend's face before they entered the small bakery. The bakery was small yet friendly with a few people working there during most days while at the same time there was a delivery service that brought orders to the citizens in the city and so Jaden and his comrades enjoyed going there for fun and having a good time. </p><p>Once inside the three young men saw a pair of young ladies helping two men with some purchases as well as a young man at the register, and so Jaden walked up to the register and said " Hi there can I get a small muffin and a cup of French Vanilla coffee please ?" with the young man whose tag said " Hunter " smiling at him in a friendly way.  He then responded " Sure do you want anything else or is that it for you sir ?" with Jaden shaking his head and then replying " No I'm good, but my friends here are ready to order" before moving away to the side while Kyle and Scott moved up to the register.</p><p> Kyle looked at the menu in front of him as Scott said " Can I get a small coffee and a blueberry muffin please ?" with Kyle also saying " I'll take a chocolate chip muffin and a medium coffee as well " which Hunter nodded at and replied " sure thing guys I'll be right with you". </p><p>As Jaden sat down at a table he sighed and ran his fingers down his face while he thought to himself " Why did he do it? Why did one of our greatest members betray us, I don't get it " with anxiety in his mind due to what he would find as well as his unease about what one of the strongest and oldest Strikers had up his sleeve in terms of goals Then as he got up to get his muffin and drink Jaden felt Kyle touch his arm and say " You ok dude? you seem worried about something " with Jaden not knowing what to say due to the numerous thoughts in his mind. It was a few seconds later before Jaden decided to come clean about his anxious thoughts as he didn't like keeping anything from his friends and comrades. </p><p>So he sat down with his friends as they drank their coffees and said " I been wondering why HE left the Strikers and I don't get it, I mean he had no reason to leave and seemed to be happy with us but I still don't know what caused him to abandon us you know ?" with Scott and Kyle looking at each other for a moment before Scott said " I don't know what drives Zane but I know we need to keep an eye out for any news of where he might be right bro?" as he looked over at Kyle who was sipping some of his coffee. Kyle saw Scott's eyebrow raise as if he was saying " Right bro you agree?" which made him smirk to himself as he swallowed his coffee. </p><p>Kyle nodded in agreement before they got up and headed out to the car, but as they reached the Jeep they suddenly heard their phones going off with calls for all three of them. So Jaden pulled out his device before answering " Hey Master what can we do ?" with what seemed to be their commanding officer's voice coming over the phone " There's an attack at the weapons shop in the shopping district of the city, I need you guys to go stop it ok ?" with Jaden looking at his friends as they nodded in agreement. Jaden then walked over to his seat and sat down before looking over at his friends and mouthed " Get ready as we get to the mission point ok?" with Kyle and Scott's faces turning serious. </p><p>So Jaden said in confirmation "Sure thing boss we'll be there soon " as he closed the call before Kyle pulled out of the parking lot, and headed to the shopping district. On the way there Jaden asked his friends " so what do you think is happening here? I mean it might not be that serious " with Kyle shrugging his shoulders before he said in an unknown tone " We'll see what's happening soon " as Scott nodded in agreement and waited for Kyle to stop talking. Jaden nodded at this as he knew that they shouldn't keep their guards down and be alert for anything and didn't say anything but the other two men knew what he was thinking. </p><p>Once Kyle closed his mouth Scott said " Yeah so let's keep our minds sharp and see what's going on " as they all got their gear together and hopped out of the car. The shopping district was full of shops and stores that sold many types of clothing and items such as food, weaponry, health increasing medicines and herbs, as well as other items. Jaden then drew his pistol before he walked in front of Scott and Kyle who had their guns out. Jaden held his gun in front of him with one hand holding the trigger and the other hand keeping the gun steady. </p><p>Kyle was then whispering to them " Ok let's see what's going on before we make any decisions " with Scott nodding to Jaden, and they headed around a corner to see three men kicking over a box of bullets that a woman seemed to have been carrying to a shop that sold weapons. The three men had dark hair and seemed to be acting in an aggressive manner which indicated to Jaden that they might be Werewolves but not transformed. Jaden and his friends had faced some werewolves before but hadn't faced one that was a serious threat yet so they didn't know what to expect. </p><p>So Jaden frowned in annoyance at these people or creatures as he called them attacking innocent people, and so he motioned with his hand to signal " Go" to Scott and Kyle with Kyle going first and Scott moving behind him to knock out the first creature on the neck with a chop to the back of it. At the same time, Scott gripped the arm of the second Werewolf and said " Go ahead and try to do that again I'll kill you right here " with the aggressive-looking man smirking while looking at Scott in amusement before he said, " I think I'll wait for my friend here " as he was thinking to himself " Now let's get this party started " with an arrogant look on his face. </p><p>Scott then looked up and saw the third creature hold Scott in a headlock before Jaden had his pistol at his target's head, and said " Scott when I say now you dodge ok ?" with Scott nodding with his head before Jaden yelled " NOW". The Striker then shot a silver bullet out of his gun which struck the Werewolf in the chest and killed him at that moment. Kyle then used his gun to kill his enemy at that moment before they all regrouped together, and they then gathered their breaths. Once they recovered Jaden led them in going and killing the other adversaries in the area with enough force to fatally injure them before they then surveyed the area with Jaden making a note to keep his eyes out as they head home. </p><p>Jaden then took out his phone before he called Master Kaine who said " You guys did a good job as normal ?" with Jaden looking at his friends before he nodded at them, and said " Yeah boss we're heading to the base now ok ?" before Kaine nodded to himself. He then said " Good meet me in my office in a moment, and I'll give you guys some time to yourself before we need you here " with Jaden closing his phone and sighed before turning to his friends and said, " We need to meet Master in his office".</p><p>Later as Jaden, Scott, and Kyle stood in front of Kaine the old man had a look of pride in his eyes as he told them " I know that was not much in terms of a mission, but I still want to tell you that you did a good job so do what you want to do for now and if I need you for missions I'll let you know ok ?" with Jaden nodding in agreement as well as his friends.  So now that they had free time they headed out to the city before Jaden said " I got to go meet up with my sister ok? so I'll see you later " with Scott and Kyle nodding before they headed to their own lives while Jaden headed out to the hospital.</p><p>So then as Jaden walked up to the big white and grey looking building he smiled to himself before heading to the receptionist's desk and said "Hey Jess is Kendall in today ?" as Jess who had brown hair and grey eyes smiled at him due to him being in the hospital from time to time, and said, " of course she is waiting for you right now ". Feeling cheerier Jaden nodded thankfully before walking towards his sister's office and waved to several nurses who smiled and waved back.</p><p>Then Jaden knocked on his sister's door with anxiety in his body before Kendall who had black hair with red streaks in it and green eyes smiled at her brother and hugged him before she said: "come on in".</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. First showing of the Tainted Blood and meeting Derek</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In this part, we see Jaden's curse kick in and also meet one of his friends</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kendall walked over to her desk and picked up a notebook before she turned around and looked at her brother for the first time that day, and as she looked him over she couldn't stop thinking that she loved him even though he was not her biological brother he still meant the world to her and she wouldn't have it any other way. </p><p>In her mind, she considered the fact that his job in life is a bit different than hers. This was due mostly to Kendall's hope to heal people and not hurt them in any way. She enjoyed helping people get back to healthy lives which made her feel good at different moments, and so she raised an eyebrow before asking " So what can I do for you? I mean you must have some reason for being here if you're not here to annoy me ?" with a smile on her face as to say that she didn't mind him being there.</p><p>At the same time, it also showed that she was happy to see him which amused Jaden, and so he said in an amused tone " I was thinking of getting checked out and see if anything is holding me back from being at my best you know? That could cause me to be less effective and I would hate that " with Kendall nodding in agreement as she knew that her brother liked to keep his body in shape from his training and missions. </p><p>So Kendall picked up her notebook before flipping to a random page, and asking the young man in front of her " So how are you feeling today? I mean are you feeling different or weird or anything ?" which Jaden frowned at, and thought to himself " Do I feel weird right now? I haven't felt any strange phenomenon in my body yet so no not really" as he looked up and said, " I don't feel any worse I mean I feel like myself for the most part."</p><p>But at that moment something hit Jaden, and so he continued to speak "one thing that feels different would be my mood sometimes as I have been recently more ruthless during missions which I haven't done before you know ?" with Kendall nodding in understanding.  So she said " well let's take a quick look at you, and see if you need any meds or other healing items " before picking up a small pad as it turned on, and then ran it over her brother's body before it scanned him for the next few moments.</p><p>While this happened Jaden was thinking to himself " Ok so whatever feeling is in my mind right now is worrying me, maybe spending some time in the shopping and eatery districts of the city will stop it " as Kendall looked over his results before turning to Jaden, and said "Ok you look normal but I would recommend coming back in maybe a few weeks to see how you feel then ok ?" with Jaden nodding in agreement before heading out of the office, and was soon on his way to his vehicle.</p><p>A few moments later Jaden was standing in front of a small burger joint which he was feeling a great amount of eagerness for due to his love of burgers, and as he stepped into the small restaurant Jaden frowned in annoyance as a man with brown hair and jade green eyes came towards him with a smirk on his face, and an air of superiority around him. This was Ian Richardson who was a Captain in the City Guards that work to keep the peace in the world, and who also had an annoying sense of smugness and superiority about him.</p><p> So as Ian walked towards Jaden with his food he smirked, and said " Hey there Jaden I wonder who will be more successful in the upcoming Combat Games eh?" which angered Jaden, and unknowingly caused his eyes to turn black as the mark on his face pulsed in his mind with a voice that seemed to be dark, and somewhat seductive saying "Come closer, and prepare to be crushed you fool ".</p><p>In the next moment, Jaden closed his fists and clenched them while he breathed in, and out as he said " Leave me alone Jerk " before pushing his way past Ian. He then sighed in annoyance as he walked forward to get his food. Once he sat down in the car with his food Jaden said to himself " Ok let's go home and see what that voice in my head is " before he pulled out of the parking lot, and headed home while in his mind the voice said " Oh you can try and get a handle on this all you want JayJay, but in the end, you'll lose to my power " before it faded into the blackness.</p><p>Jaden walked up to his second home which was a black and grey house covered with different scanners, and some greenery on the ground before he opened the scanner, and put his eye close to it as it scanned him for the next few minutes.  It soon turned green with Jaden heading to the kitchen to eat his food. A few minutes later Jaden sat down with his food on a plate with a cup of Orange juice in front of him as well before he opened his phone, and went to his messages which had only two in his unread section.</p><p>So Jaden opened the first one which read " Hey man it's Oliver listen Master said that you should try to be here for your instructions for the upcoming Combat Games, so can you meet me here in maybe an hour ?" which Jaden nodded to himself as he wanted to know what these " Combat Games " were going to be anyway, and then sent back " Sure thing man I'm heading there in a few minutes " before he sent a quick message to his next message.</p><p>Jaden opened the email by tapping it's icon before he saw that it was from his mother which he read to himself "Hey hon its mom I just wanted to say that your father and I miss you, and can't wait to see you compete in the Combat Games so keep working hard. We'll see you and Kendall as well as Julian soon !". Jaden smiled at this as even though people thought that he was cold and unemotional for most of the time he truly loved his parents and siblings so he tried his best to show them at times.</p><p>A moment later Jaden headed to take a shower before doing anything else so once he was done he stopped in front of the mirror and looked at the dark looking mark on his eye which made his breath hitch, and a sudden image of a dark looking being with what appeared to be his own eyes and the same mark on his face came into his mind which worried Jaden to a strong level.  As he thought " What are you What's happening to me ?!" to himself Jaden then fell to his knees and felt a strong feeling of nausea come up from his stomach.</p><p>For the next few seconds, he kept down the urge to throw up with some difficulty before he shook his head which helped make the feeling go away, and so Jaden hopped into the shower to clear his mind, and gather his emotions together. Jaden soon found himself standing in front of his best friend Derek's room due to his feelings of fear and worry overpowering him at the moment, and so he knocked on his friend's door before a young man with dark blonde hair and aqua eyes came out of the room. This young man who was Derek smiled warmly at the young man in front of him as he said: " What's going on J ? you seem worried about something". Then at that moment, Jaden was seeing that image in his head again which caused the fearful Striker to close his eyes.</p><p>Jaden eventually felt better enough to say " Iii I don't know what's going on dude! I seem to be seeing some person in my mind, and I also seem to be feeling violent at different times now! I don't know what to do or where to turn !" as Jaden felt tears of worry form in his eyes which Derek frowned at, and said in a comforting way " It's ok man let's get some food and hot chocolate before we go see Marie ok ?".</p><p>Marie was one of the therapists for the Strikers who could help with many problems that Strikers had so the Strikers trusted her to the highest degree, and as Jaden and Derek stood outside her door Derek knocked with a woman standing in front of them with a smile, and a friendly air around her as she said "Jaden, Derek please come in ".</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. meeting Marie and experiencing the voice again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here Jaden meets the nurse Marie and hears the dark voice again</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In Marie's office, Jaden and Derek sat down in front of Marie who had a small tablet out that she used to get notes with as well as use it for her daily activities due to usually being in her office for most of her day with some trips to the training room and helping out around the city. Then as she looked over at Derek she asked " so what's going on that involves coming to me you two? I mean you two haven't shown any reasons to see me you know ?" with Jaden running his fingers through his hair in unease due to his nervousness at telling Marie about what's been happing before he said " I know and I wish I didn't need to be here as I feel I'm wasting your time. " which Marie shook her head at as she liked talking to the Strikers and seeing what she could do to help them with whatever was bothering them. </p><p>Then she said " It's no problem I am here to help " as she smiled at Jaden and Derek before she motioned to the chairs in front of her and said, " Please sit".Jaden nodded in agreement and plopped down on a chair before continuing "but I do appreciate this, and I want to make the most out of it so here goes: I've been feeling this voice in my head as well as this dark and seductive feeling to hurt people in the last few hours along with a small incident in the burger joint where Ian Richardson was there, and as he made some crack about me I felt this voice try and convince me to hurt him as well as this feeling of dark, and if I can think of another word to fit it I would say energizing power ." before Jaden sighed as he shook his head in frustration as he didn't know why this was happening to him and he just wanted to be normal or at least a normal Striker.</p><p>He soon finished his explanation with " I just don't know what will happen you know? I'm hoping maybe we can find something or someone who knows about this". Marie pursed her lips, and thought to herself " Ok this doesn't seem weird or anything, I haven't heard anything like this recently but maybe the Library or the Archives has some info on this " as she turned to Jaden and told him " I would try the Library, and/or Archives for any potential info ok you two ?". with Jaden looking over at Derek for the next second before they both nodded in agreement as Jaden was thinking " I can do that".</p><p>Jaden then said " Thanks for this I do appreciate it, and I hope maybe we can keep meeting again" which Marie nodded at, and smiled before she said " alright I'll let you guys get to your normal activities ok? If you need me I'll be here " and so Jaden said to Derek " I'm going to do some training for now ok dude ?" with Derek smiling at his friend before he nodded, and headed to his room for some alone time.</p><p>Jaden ran his fingers through his stubble on his face and sighed in anxiety as he thought to himself " I hope I can get a good idea of what to do " before heading to a medium-sized room where there was a tablet which had settings that could be selected for training such as the drones coming at full force towards Jaden as well as other Strikers or creating obstacles for Jaden to deal with which was a great way for Jaden to work with different situations or to work on anything that needed improving. So as Jaden turned on the tablet he then had some drones come towards him with swords out, and so Jaden dashed forward before he sliced through two drones with his sword in his left hand while gripping the third drone in that group with his right. He then looked at it with a bit of cold annoyance before he said " you're dead now" </p><p>As he lifted the drone in his hand Jaden smirked before he stabbed it in the torso and said "Good night fool " as he threw it to the side. For the next few moments, Jaden kept pushing his body to the limit with his body breaking through his limits before he stopped as the final drone fell to the floor. Then he said to himself " That was good for now let's get something to eat " and left the room. Jaden drove to the shopping district where he decided to grab some Italian due to being in the mood for some and then parked in this small Italian restaurant which in his opinion had really good pizza before parking the car and then heading into the eatery.</p><p>The inside of the restaurant had a warm air of friendliness and smells coming from many directions, and so Jaden breathed in the air before he said " I'm in the mood for some pasta and bread " and headed to the cashier, and said "Hey there I would like to get some Ziti with some Garlic Bread please " with the young man behind the register nodding in understanding before saying " Sure it'll be 20$" which Jaden handed over to the cashier.  A moment later Jaden sat down at a small table before he took out his phone.</p><p>Jaden opened his phone with his passcode before he looked through the section that was used for his missions which he could take at his own time. The missions were not too hard but Jaden did like to go for the harder missions as they helped him gain experience and learn from his mistakes. The food was soon delivered to his table, and so Jaden thanked the waiter before he dug into his meal for the time being.</p><p>Jaden was sitting back and sipping some of his soda for a moment before his mind suddenly went to a place that he didn't like going to in his mind which was about his parents who had abandoned him as well as his amnesia.  This train of thought annoyed him due to what he considered one of his goals was that he could remember his past. So, for now, he couldn't do that due to what was blocking him which was something related to his memories. He sighed in annoyance and walked out of the restaurant to his car.</p><p>Then as he sat down in his seat Jaden said to himself " I wonder if they had loved me enough to give birth to me or would they have let me die in the womb". in a sad and frustrated tone as Jaden didn't know if his birth parents even thought of him at this time, and wondered if he was healthy and happy with his life which still worried him due to him not knowing where his birth parents were, and so he didn't know where to go to meet them.</p><p>Jaden then put that feeling out of his head before he said to himself " Let's think about this later and go have some fun now ", and pulled out of the parking lot before driving to a small shop that sold books on different skills as well as guides to the other nations in the other parts of the world.  These were interesting to Jaden since he didn't get a chance to get out of the city much, and he wanted to possibly check those nations out in his life. Walking into the small building Jaden felt an air of peace and curiosity fill his body, and so he decided to spend some time here.</p><p>So the young man walked over to a section of shelves that seemed interesting before Jaden looked over at one shelf that had books on different weapons and cultures from the nation of Cardrona, while on the other side were shelves that had books on famous people and places from the nation of Dranoxia which was right next to the nation that Jaden lived in. Jaden picked up the first book that he saw which was titled " Everything you need to know about Cardrona " which was covered with the image of the president of the nation who was a young woman named Laura Daniels.</p><p>The young leader had red hair and brown eyes as well as a few scars on her face. The wounds indicated she had been in her share of fights, and so it seemed to intrigue Jaden as he ran his eyes through the first few chapters to see if he wanted to get it. Once he decided that it was interesting enough Jaden put the book in his arms and then walked around some more before he put a pair of books on the weapons and cultures of Cardrona and Dranoxia in his arms and then headed to the counter.</p><p>After he paid for the books Jaden headed to the Strikers base for the night as even though he liked spending time at his other home he did want to get some training in before he had to go do some missions.  So Jaden parked in the garage before sliding his fingers across the passcode reader on the door that led to his floor . Once in his room, Jaden placed his bought books on his table before he then sighed and walked into the shower as he needed some time for thinking.</p><p>While in the shower Jaden ran his fingers down his neck in relaxation for a moment until he stopped as he sensed the same feeling in his mind which had come up during the last night. Jaden said to himself " Calm down it's nothing but a feeling, and it will go away soon " only for the seductive and malicious voice telling him " You can ignore this all you want, but you WILL come to know this power soon enough, and you will lose yourself to me " as it finished off with its cold laughing which worried Jaden.  </p><p>As he went to sleep Jaden then thought to himself " tomorrow go talk to Master Kaine about this " before falling into the void.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Meeting Kaine and dealing with a Devourer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden chats with his mentor and fights a Devourer</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day came and went pretty fast as Jaden had a good amount of errands to do during the day with his main errands being going to the bakery to get a slice of maple loaf bread for a while before heading to the bookstore for some cookbooks that he had his eye on for the last few days, and so as Jaden ran his fingers down his sweaty chest having finished his workout for the day, he decided to go act on his talk with Kaine. Jaden then took his shower for the next few minutes before he then got dressed and grabbed his phone and wallet in case he needed to go out before closing his door and was soon on his way. </p><p>So while he headed up to the stairs which led to the floor where the Master had his office Jaden was thinking to himself " Ok stay cool, it's not like that voice will make you nervous around the Master, no you should be fine " before he felt a wave of anxiety fill his chest which worried him for a moment. Once that was over Jaden said " Let's do this " before knocking on Kaine's door. As Kaine Ranson was sitting at his desk in the room with a notebook in front of him the old man was thinking to himself about his men and women who served in the Strikers, and how proud of them he was as he saw them as not only his good warriors but as his surrogate family. He also had a suspicion that Jaden was more different than he thought which he didn't blame Jaden for as he couldn't control it so why should he blame him. </p><p>So then as Kaine put his pen to his notebook he heard the knock on the door and asked " What can I do for you ?" in a wondering tone with Jaden clearing his throat as he thought of what to say for a moment.  Jaden decided to say " It's me, Master, It's Jaden I was wondering if you could help me with something ". This got Kaine's eyes widening in joy as he enjoyed meeting with Jaden, and then opened the door before he said in a happy tone " Jaden welcome it's always good to see you and help you " with a smile on his face which Jaden returned as he enjoyed talking to Kaine and gaining some new words of wisdom or tips for life. </p><p>Jaden said " I have a weird situation, and I wanted to see if you knew anything about it " Kaine nodded and brought over two cups of coffee which Jaden said "Thanks " in an appreciative voice before sipping some in contentment.  Then Kaine asked " so what can I do for you son? I'll listen as you tell me what's going on, and then I'll see what I can give you " with Jaden clearing his throat again. Then he said "Ok sure well I was at the bakery the other night, and was about to enjoy some food I had picked up when Ian Richardson had begun to annoy me " before swallowing some coffee. </p><p>Kaine chuckled to himself as he knew of the head butting between Jaden and Ian Richardson due to having seen it multiple times and so he said " I can understand why you would be annoyed but go on son" as Jaden then finished with his coffee for now before he then sighed and rubbed his head. After he put his drink down Jaden continued to say " I was doing my best to let it go when I felt this voice in my head, and this rush of malicious and seductive power fill me as the voice said that I should attack him you know ?". </p><p>Kaine then nodded as he heard this come from Jaden which worried him at the moment as he thought about it in his mind. Then he seemed to frown in contemplation for some time as he was thinking to himself " This sounds like something that I heard about from one of my contacts at the mental asylum where a woman with the same last name as Jaden resides." After thinking about this for a moment Kaine then turned to look at his bookshelf while picking up a picture of his wife and daughter before looking at it for a few seconds. </p><p>Kaine then put the picture down before sipping on some coffee, and once he was done, Kaine then continued " if I am correct about this then this is very worrying " before he said in a hesitant tone " Jaden did you see an image of this entity in your mind or somehow get a visual of it ?" with Jaden nodding as he sipped some of his coffee before he said " Yes it's a being in darkness with what seems to be my eyes and the mark that I have right here " as he said this Jaden pointed to his mark on his face which glimmered in the light which Kaine looked at with a critical eye as it seemed to pulse and glow with dark light. </p><p>Kaine nodded in understanding and cleared his throat before he said: " Alright I have to talk to someone but I'll let you know what happens ok?" which Jaden nodded at before he gave Kaine a grateful look, and then headed out to the hallway where he saw two of Master Kaine's former apprentices in the Striker organization walking towards him. They were two young women that were twin sisters named Claudia and Liana who worked as spies for the Strikers as well as Medics due to having a good degree of medical training as well.</p><p>So then as Claudia got a good look at Jaden the auburn-haired young woman smiled and said "Good to see you Jaden " as she shook his hand while her sister looked him up and down for a moment before she also smiled, and shook his hand as Jaden said " It's good to see you as well ladies, I hope your mission went well ?" as he saw some wounds on Claudia and Liana's upper torso through the bodysuits they were wearing. Claudia nodded as she looked towards her blonde-haired sister who scowled at something in her mind that had come up when she was reminded of their mission.</p><p>Claudia shook her head and replied "Yeah it went well for the most part but we were ambushed by a Devourer as well as an annoying vampire named Rick Gaines who thought he could make us his thralls you know ?" which Jaden nodded at as he had encountered Rick Gaines before, and had beaten him to an unconscious state before leaving the scene. So Jaden looked down at his phone before he saw a new mission in his inbox, and so he said to the ladies " Sorry you two I have to go ok ?" with Liana nodding in understanding.</p><p>Then the young female said " Sure thing go ahead ", and walked to the elevator before Jaden headed to his room, and took out his gear before turning on the mission message which read "Some ruffians are stealing some medical supplies in the medical district as well as some weapons in the section of the armed forces of the city, So I was wondering if you could go after them, I would pay a decent amount " which Jaden agreed to by hitting "Accept".</p><p>He then scrolled down to find a profile that said " Luke Armitage: This man has been seen lurking around the mission target site, and so he will possibly be in the building so caution advised, target level: medium strength" before he put his gear in the usual places, and then sat in his car a few moments later as he put his glasses on before he pulled out of the garage.</p><p>A few moments later Jaden drove to a small hospital in a small part of the city that belonged to the medical teams, and a place that Jaden had been to at different times due to his body needing healing from time to time. Because of that, Jaden enjoyed being there as he got to know several of the doctors and nurses who had helped him get better, and had learned about who they were, and what they enjoyed in life. Jaden was now heading into the lobby of the building before he would go into the deeper parts of the hospital.</p><p>So then as he stepped into the small waiting room he felt an air of uneasiness fill his body as he did not know what he would encounter or who he would be possibly fighting. So Jaden took out a small combat knife before reverse gripping it, and walked slowly towards the receptionist who looked worriedly at him, and asked: " You here to help us ?". Jaden nodded and held out his hand before he helped her to her feet.</p><p>The young man said " I'm Jaden, and I'm with the Strikers" before he ran his fingers down his neck, and continued with " what can you tell me about what's going on if you can?" with the receptionist clearing her throat for a moment before replying " I was working my normal shift when I saw these two guys walk into here with weapons that were drawn, and they began to attack the doctors as they were looking for something, Oh they also had a creature with them " which Jaden nodded at as he understood what was going on.</p><p>Jaden then said " Keep sitting here, and if you need defense here you go" as he handed her a small gun with some ammo before he walked away into the hall in front of him. As Jaden walked down the hall he kept his hand on his pistol while his eyes looked through the doors to the hospital rooms.  While at the same time Jaden checked to see if anything was going to come out at him until he reached what seemed to be the mess hall.</p><p>As he walked in he saw to his horror a big creature with hardened skin and a pair of red demonic looking eyes with a growl coming from its mouth which worried Jaden as he thought to himself " This must be a Devourer" while at the same time he didn't know how to fight this thing. Then he swallowed his nervousness before he rushed into the room, and grabbed his pistol before unloading a series of shots into its skin which only seemed to piss it off. Then as the creature turned to Jaden he switched out his pistol for his knife before he braced himself for impact as the being attacked him with a punch to the chest which sent him flying through the doors into the outside of the building.</p><p>The rain poured down as Jaden got to his feet before he thought to himself " Ok I don't know what this thing is but I need to take it down before I let it hurt any other people ", and dashed forward before gripping the eye of his enemy and stabbing it for the next few seconds which caused it immense pain. In its pain-filled stomping, it gripped Jaden in a hard grip and then threw him to the side which caused Jaden to groan in annoyance.</p><p>So he threw his knife into the dark looking beast's eye which killed it, and so Jaden got up before he said: " What's going on ?".</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. missions and meeting Julianna</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden goes onto some missions and meets a very important lady</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaden looked around the area of the hospital that he was in which was full of benches and two doors at the entrance to the mess hall, and so as he saw that no one was there he gripped his knife before ripping it out of the Devourer's eye which grossed him out which was indicated by the expression on his face. Then he wiped it off and put it back in his belt as he thought to himself "Ok I need to find out who is attacking this place as well as go to the other mission point" before he then shifted his shoulder to get rid of any pain.</p><p>Then Jaden said " so let's go to the other sections of the building " before Jaden snuck into the hallway through the doors that led to the mess hall, and kept his eyes out for anyone who would attack him. The air was full of silence as Jaden thought to himself " Man this is creepy I mean I know there's not a lot of people are here, but I was hoping to encounter some other medics or doctors here " which worried him that anyone was hurt, and at the same time encouraged him to keep moving.</p><p>It was not wrong before he found himself at the doors to the second exit to the building which had who seemed to be the two people that the receptionist said were in the building standing in front of the doors with the man on the left with a smirk on his face while running his fingers down his scarred face. At the same time, his partner who was the same height as the scarred man, and had blue hair smiled cruelly at Jaden before the young Striker said in a clipped tone "What are you two doing here? I understand you two are supposed to be on a mission? "</p><p>But at that moment Jaden's face darkened as he said " unless you have been planning something that's opposing the Strikers " as he put his fingers on his knife, and got ready to strike. The scarred man smirked and then drew his small blade before dashing forward and engaging Jaden in close combat for the next few moments with the blue-haired man hanging back and providing fire with his pistols.</p><p>But Jaden dodged and deflected the bullets with his knife before leaping over the scarred man, and slashing down on his back which caused some blood to appear on the man's shirt. "Jake!" the blue-haired man shouted in anger before he jumped up, and fired two shots into Jaden's chest which were not damaging enough to cause Jaden fatal wounds, but they did knock him back, and so Jake got to his feet before noticing the blood on the floor.</p><p>So he growled as he felt the blood coming out of his shirt before he said " Let's go Orion" as he rushed out the door before Orion smirked and said "Good night see you later " in a mocking tone which annoyed Jaden before the Striker released a disk. Jaden threw it onto Orion's back which caused him to be followed by Jaden for the time being. Jaden closed his eyes and groaned in pain as he rubbed the wound on his chest which was not too deep, and said to himself " Ok now I have to go stop that other mission unless I can get someone else to do it ".</p><p>Once he felt better Jaden rushed out to the car, and then drove out to the mission point which was in front of a large building with a gate leading to a closed-door which had a group of men carrying a bag of weapons out of the building, and so Jaden parked the car before he gripped his pistol, and said in a commanding voice " DROP THE WEAPONS! GET ON YOUR KNEES NOW!" as he raised the pistol, and said " I'm not going to say it again, you are looking at an upper-level Striker " which caused the main man holding the bag to drop it.</p><p>He then started to freeze in terror as he had lost a brother to a Striker due to his idiot brother's mistake of charging the Striker before he said: "Alright Alright I'll drop the bag". Jaden nodded at this and grabbed the bag before he said: " Come with me I'll have to bring you to the base ", and then led the man into his car before driving him to the base where there was a section for whatever criminals or people they find during missions.</p><p>Once the Striker and his caught perp-walked into the small building Jaden said to the man in charge of the cells " Hey Josh I have someone here for you to put away " with the man who had green eyes and red hair nodding in agreement and then said " Sure thing J you go have a good night ok ?" with Jaden nodding in understanding. That night Jaden was about to go to sleep when he heard a person outside his door, and so he headed down to the front door with annoyance in his eyes.</p><p>He opened it and saw a young woman with raven hair and green eyes that looked good on her face, and so Jaden muttered " Great what now ?" as he said, " Hello Julianna ".</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Talking with Julianna and meeting new family members</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden chats with his dream lady and then meets some new family members</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaden stood in front of the door with a hand on the doorknob as well as his fingers being run through his hair for the next few moments as he had to figure out what to say to the woman standing in front of him. Once he decided to just go ahead, and say what was on his mind he said " Hey Julianna what can I do for you ?" with a raised eyebrow while he kept an eye out for whatever Julianna was about to say.</p><p>She then said in an uneasy tone " Hey Jaden I was wondering if we could talk ?" with her hand holding her bag that was on her shoulder before Jaden said " Yeah ok sure come in " as he held the door open for the young woman which she nodded at before walking into the house and wiped her hands together in nervousness. The two young adults sat down at the kitchen table with two cups of coffee before Jaden sipped some of his drink and said " What's up? I can see you have a reason for being here " with Julianna nodding as she tried to think of what to say.</p><p>Then a few minutes later she blurted out " I need your help: there's a case I'm doing and I could use your help if you want " Jaden raised his eyebrow for a second time as he sipped some more coffee before he said " Ok hit me with what you got and we'll see if I can do it " with Julianna nodding with a smile on her face before she pulled out her phone and brought up the mission info as Jaden took the device before holding it up.</p><p>Then Jaden said " Ok let's see what we got" to himself as he ran through the info which he saw as (Target: Keith Hanson, crime: Murder of several shop owners and medics at the different hospitals in the city, bounty: 5000 Terreons $, possible location: In the Saint James hospital at the medical district ). Once he was finished Jaden handed the phone back to Julianna before he said " What time do you need to be out thereby? All I have to do is gather what I need, and then we can go " with Julianna raising her head in hope.</p><p>She then said " You're going to help? I thought you liked doing things your way ?" which Jaden smiled at before he said " Maybe I want to have a partner with me " which got Julianna smiling too, and so she said, " How about now ?". Jaden headed to his storage area where his gear was and picked up his usual set of gear consisting of his swords and pistols as well as some ammo, and his explosive/stealth grenades which he put in his pouches.</p><p>Once Jaden was confident he had what he needed, he then headed out to meet with Julianna who smiled at him and said in a cheerful manner "Ready partner ?" with Jaden nodding in agreement. Then they were soon sitting in his car and so as the two warriors drove to the job spot Julianna looked over at her partner who was concentrating on the road as a few minutes passed before she asked in an uneasy tone " So I have to ask: why do you not date any females, I understand if you have good reasons but I don't get why you won't let yourself have a relationship ?".</p><p>Jaden had a frown on his face as he drove through the rain while he thought about the question before he said " I do find women to be appealing to me, and I want to be with someone as I don't fancy myself being alone, but it's complicated " with Julianna narrowing her eyes as she said "So tell me what is so complicated ?" until Jaden sighed, and parked at the hospital before he said as he rubbed his eyes " Well to understand why I have that mindset you have to understand two things: 1. the fact that regardless of my personality and morality mindset I'm a killer which paints a target on my head due to my association with the Strikers."</p><p>Jaden then stepped out of the car, and helped Julianna as well before he continued to say" so you must know that I have enemies as well as people who want me dead, so I must keep my personal life apart from my "work " can you see what I'm trying to say ?" with a raised eyebrow, and at the same time an anxious and hopeful tone in his voice as he hoped to get her to understand. Julianna nodded in understanding as she patted his shoulder before she said: " It's ok I get it it's the same reason I broke up with Charlie ".</p><p>At the same time, she said that Julianna smiled sadly at the memory of her friend who was her ex and at the same time her best friend next to Jaden. Once they entered the hospital Julianna took out a small communicator before she said " Take this and go see if you can find our guy ok ?" with Jaden nodding in understanding before he snuck through the doors to the left. As Jaden crept through the hallway he snuck one of his daggers out before holding it in a reverse grip, and then found a man with tan yellowish hair and grey eyes standing in front of two men with a nurse in his arms.</p><p>Then as Jaden crept behind the man he silently gripped his shoulder before twisting him around and putting him in a headlock as he said " Are you Keith Hanson? " with a growl coming out of his throat. Keith smirked before elbowing Jaden in the ribs and said " Who's asking ?" in a mocking tone as he ran away before Jaden aimed with his pistol, and fired a shot right into Keith's right leg.</p><p>Keith gasped in pain as Jaden gripped his throat, and said " You will come with me " as he added pressure to the hand that choked Keith before he felt the malicious and powerful feeling entering his body as well as the voice from before entering his mind "Kill! Kill! Crush him and show him our power !" and as Jaden raised the knife he closed his eyes as he said " STAY OUT OF MY MIND!" before he chopped Keith in the neck.</p><p>This move knocked the criminal out and Jaden then dragged the man to where Julianna was waiting for him, and so as Julianna looked over at him she asked " so how is he I mean did you hurt him too bad?" with Jaden shaking his head, and replying " No I knocked him out even though I had the voice in my head telling me to kill him " which worried Julianna at that moment. But she then said, " Ok that's something we can deal with later now let's get him to the authorities before we do anything else" as they headed out to the car.</p><p>A few minutes later the two of them were soon standing in front of the city guards with their man with Ian Richardson standing in front of them with a smirk on his face which annoyed Jaden. Julianna noticed this and said " Can we get our pay now, please? I can see this is starting to be a hassle if we got to deal with you " which Jaden nodded at in agreement.</p><p>A moment later he said, " Yeah let's get this over with so we don't have to deal with you jerk " before Ian's superior in the Guards a man named Daniel Michaels nodded at them as he held out two envelopes and said, " Here you go you two we thank you for helping stop this guy " with a smile on his face which Ian didn't like but he said nothing as Jaden and Julianna left to go home. Then as Ian watched them he grimaced in anger before heading to the training room in the building while Daniel smiled in amusement as he knew of Jaden and Ian's rivalry.</p><p>But at the same time, Jaden and Julianna drove to the small bar near the Striker's base before they headed inside and sat down while they ordered drinks for the night and as Jaden sipped some of his coke he asked " how did you get into this business? I mean I want to know what drives you to do this and see if I can help you in some way you know ?" which Julianna smiled at amusingly before she said, " I had a small family growing up and I had a happy life until I caught my mom cheating with a guy who turned out to be a vampire".</p><p>Julianna swallowed some of her beer and wiped her mouth before continuing" so she was turned a while later before she tried to get me and my dad changed into Vampires and then we had to kill her before we got attacked by the same nest as her maker and my dad got killed before telling me to run and live for myself. This then drove me to go out and get trained so I could hunt down the same type of beings you get what I'm saying ?"</p><p>Jaden nodded at this as he could relate somewhat before he swallowed the rest of his drink and got up to leave as he was getting tired. But before he was about to leave he saw Kaine walk into the room with a man with black hair that had a bit of red showing through it and blue eyes which looked friendly at Jaden before Jaden said " Hello Ryan what can I do for the two of you ?" while putting his hands in his pockets.</p><p>Kaine looked over at Ryan before he said in a curious tone " Jaden how would you like to meet one of your family members ?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Meeting Jade for the first time at the Asylum</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Once at the Asylum Jaden meets the first of his unknown family members and gets to know her</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaden looked over at Kaine while he ran his fingers through his hair for a few minutes as he considered what he wanted to say to the question that was asked to him, and as he thought to himself " Do I want to meet one of my family members? I guess he's talking about a biological member as I know most of my adopted family, and yeah I would like to meet anyone who can tell me about why I was left behind so sure I would like to" before he looked over at Ryan. Ryan raised an eyebrow before he said in his mind " So it seems Jaden does have an interest in meeting someone who knows some info about him huh?".  </p><p>But then he closed his mental train as Jaden looked ready to say something and decided to hear Jaden out as he saw his student about to say his answer. Then he said " Yeah I want to meet one of my possible family members I mean it would be good to get to know someone you know ?" with Ryan looking over at Kaine who nodded in agreement.  Kaine then said " Ok so let's meet up here in a few hours before we head out ok?" with Jaden nodding his head and replying "Sure let me make sure some things are done." before he then turned to the doorway.  As he was looking behind him to look at the two men he then said"  then I'll be ready " as he headed out of the bar, and then drove to the base. </p><p>On the way to the HQ, Jaden had his music playing while his mind was anxious yet nervous about meeting someone from his biological family as he didn't know what to expect and hoped that things would be alright. Once Jaden headed into the inside of the Striker base he sat in his room and got dressed in some workout clothes before grabbing his phone. Jaden looked at his reflection in the mirror and ran his finger down his head till he hit the back of his neck.  Sighing in annoyance Jaden steeled his eyes and said "there should be nothing to fear, you can handle it" as he went out the door on his way to his destination. </p><p>Then Jaden was plugging in his earbuds before heading to his next location which was the training room as he wanted to get some workout time in before he had to go out. On the walk to the training room, Jaden was checking his phone for any new messages which to his annoyance was a big fat 0 and so he said " let's see how things go today and go from there" as he reached the training room. Once he got done with his warmup exercises Jaden then turned to face the keypad before he began to set the drones for his session in the room. </p><p>Then at that moment, his finger slid on the keypad as he put his passcode in, and Jaden then turned on the drones with the settings on the monitor in front of him for a moment before he then gripped his pistol and reloaded it with fresh ammo as the enemies came forward towards his spot in the room. Jaden focused his attention on the drone in the front of the trio as it aimed to strike him in the midsection with its weapon raised, and so as it dashed forward and attempted to double team Jaden then dodged the first attack before he leaped back and gathered his thoughts for the moment. </p><p>This then led to Jaden shooting the drone in front of him with a headshot before rolling to the side and shooting another bullet into the second foe's chest as well which caused the drone to fall to the side. Jaden smirked to himself before he leaped back and put his pistol away as he drew his dagger and then settled into his usual stance which had his hand gripping the dagger as his legs were spread out. This allowed Jaden to get better attack options as he waited for the drone to come forward before the young man rolled to the side. </p><p>Jaden then stabbed it in the leg which made him smile with glee and at the same time made him worried about the same gleeful feeling before he shook his head to clear it as he stabbed the drone in the head before moving over to the final drone.  Jaden was now ripping the dagger out before he punched the drone with a great amount of force in the chest in the next moment which caused it to be shut down. After putting his dagger away Jaden shot the final drone in the head to finish the training session before he breathed the smoke off of his gun. </p><p>Jaden then put his pistol away into its holster as he walked out to the monitor before turning off the room with the lights turning dark and Jaden having a thoughtful look on his face as he headed over to the shower. Once that was done Jaden ran his fingers down his arm as he said to himself " Now let's get me showered before I have to head out " and then stood in the bathroom a few minutes later. While the water began to run Jaden stood in front of the sink with his upper body showing as he looked at the mirror for a moment while thinking about Oblivion. Then he stepped into the shower before sighing as the water came down onto his body, </p><p>ThenJaden was thinking to himself " I wonder what this person in the asylum will be like? I hope they like me or at least give me good answers" before he dried off.  A few moments later Jaden was soon putting his gear on his body for the next few minutes as this helped him collect his thoughts and also make sure he had everything he needed.  As Jaden headed out to the jeep where Ryan was waiting for him Kaine said: " I know this will change some things for you but know that I am here to help you, and so are your fellow Strikers".</p><p>Kaine was then handing Jaden a small file that looked important before Jaden looked at it for a moment and then looked at Kaine before he replied with confusion in his voice " How will this help, I mean does it contain info on my family member ?" with Kaine nodding in agreement as he flipped his hair back due to it being long, and said, " Yes it will give you what should be enough info for you so you can get to know them when you see them ok?".</p><p>Then Jaden replied "sure thing boss I'll let you know when we get there" before hopping into the jeep. Ryan flipped the Hang Loose sign at Kaine who smirked before driving out to the road that led to their next destination. On the way to the asylum, Ryan turned to his student and asked " You ready for this? I mean this might be nerve-wracking for you due to not having any knowledge of your birth family you know ?" which Jaden nodded as he fiddled with his phone without turning it on.</p><p>Ryan knew that Jaden did this to keep his nerves steady, and said: " yeah I guess I mean this might be good for me in a few ways as I will be talking to someone who might know about this " as he said this he motioned to his eye that was marked " plus I'll be able to get to know more about my family " with Jaden's face getting more calmer, and Ryan smiled to himself before he said " That's good now let's do this " as he parked in a parking lot which was in front of a big building with two guards who had blank looks on their faces.</p><p>Jaden then noticed this before he said "Are they ok boss ?" which Ryan nodded at before he locked the car, and replied " Yeah they're just bored don't worry about it " as they headed forward, and Ryan pulled out his ID before showing it to the guards who nodded at Jaden.   Then the guard on the left said: " Go ahead you two".  so Jaden and Ryan looked at each other before walking into the lobby where the front hall was, and Ryan said " Alright here we go " as he walked through the front hall for some time with Jaden following him.</p><p>Eventually Jaden was standing in front of a cell with Ryan knocking on the door, and then saying " Jade it's Ryan I have someone for you to see as I think you'll enjoy meeting him " with a smile on his face. Then Ryan opened the door while at the same time the woman in the room who had auburn hair and grey eyes got up from her spot at the window and walked over before she looked shocked at the young man standing in front of her, and said " Jaden, is that you ?" as she raised her hand.</p><p>Then she caressed Jaden's cheek which made him blush before she smiled, and said: " I would like some time with him if that's ok Ryan " which Ryan nodded at, and headed to the warden's office to get some info. Jaden looked over at his apparent relative before he said: " Who am I and what do you know about me and this whole situation ."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Learning about the Tainted Blood and meeting the big villain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We find out what's affecting Jaden and meet the new villain.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once the big question left Jaden's mouth the air was full of silence as Jade looked around the room while she struggled to form the right words to answer it. On one hand, she didn't want to give too much info to Jaden as she felt he shouldn't be worrying about Oblivion and should be happy in his life.  But at the same time she knew Jaden was probably burning with the need for some if not a ton of answers and so she sighed to herself before motioning to the bed which Jaden nodded to as they sat down, Then Jade sighed before she said " Ok well, first of all, you need to know that what I am about to tell you I do this cause I love you, and I want you to be prepared for what is to come.</p><p>Jade then looked at her hands which had lines on them to indicate her getting older which made him feel funny at the idea of his new family member being pretty old, and so he shook his head as she continued "But there is also my desire to see you happy and living a good life ok?" which Jaden nodded at as he wanted to be happy and enjoy his life too. So he said " I understand and it means a lot to me that you'll give me a good amount of info " as he patted Jade's arm which elicited a sigh of relief from her as she was happy that he could understand this. </p><p>Jade then looked at her hands as she thought to herself " Oh hon, how will you understand the details of what your parents did to you and why they did it?' with sadness in her mind before she then took another breath as if she was digging up some memories or info that could cause her pain. Once she recovered from that she then started her info dump " Well to begin I need to tell you about our family and how the Tainted Blood came to be in our bloodline, A long time ago before the war with the Dark Beings the patriarch of our family Nathan Gray was living in peace with his family that consisted of his son named Charlie and daughter Rose who were good people. </p><p>Jade then cleared her throat as she needed to get her thoughts on track before she then said: "During their time in our world the family was accepted and liked by their neighbors and fellow citizens." Jade then took a small cup of tea that Ryan had brought in from the mess hall as he wanted to make sure she was ok with what she was telling Jaden and so she sipped some before she said in a grateful tone " Thank you Ryan" with a smile on her face. Ryan nodded at her with a small smile before he walked out of the room while nodding at Jaden who waved back at him and then turned his attention to Jade. </p><p>Jade sipped her tea for the next few minutes while Jaden watched her with a look of interest as he wanted to know more about his ancestors while at the same time he was interested in how he became cursed with what he had in him. A moment passed as Jade finished her drink before she then put it down and cleared her throat as she said: " Now for that bit of time Nathan and his family worked to keep their family healthy and happy with their days mostly spent going to the town and socializing with the other citizens which helped their reputation grow strong and showed that they were friendly and good people".  Jade swallowed some more tea before she continued "So at that point with all this in their lives, they were happy for that small amount of time." </p><p>Jade then sighed as she ran her hands down her arms before her eyes hardened and said " But it was soon that they began to suffer'.She then continued with " Nathan found a mysterious man who had a bunch of people that formed a cult named the Order of the Titans which served the being known as Oblivion also known as the Satanic One as well as the Dark God who inhabits your body at this very moment " before she looked over at her family member. She saw Jaden's mouth thin as he was contemplating the info that she had just told him which was shocking, to say the least. </p><p>Jaden then thought to himself " So the thing in my veins and my blood is known as the Dark God/Satanic One good to know" with clearly visible sarcasm in his mind while he looked down at his hands and saw the veins turn dark for a moment. Then as he turned to face Jade Jaden asked " So how did this event cause our family to have the Satanic One's essence in our bloodline?" as Jade sipped the last bit of her tea and walked to the door before looking out at the hallway for a moment. </p><p>Jade then sighed before she hardened her eyes and continued the events of the past " Nathan did not trust this man and demanded he leaves their home and his family alone which the man had ignored and proceeded to tell him " It's your destiny to have our Lord in your family !" which worried Nathan due to the bad feelings in his mind. So at that point, Nathan decided to forgo handling this alone and had gone to get help." Jaden nodded in understanding as he would have been feeling the same way and at the same time would have gone to get help too so he didn't blame his ancestor for this. </p><p>Jaden then took out his phone before he texted Russell and Scott "Hey I'm still at the meeting with my relative but I'll see if we can meet up later is that ok?" as he then turned to face Jade and said, "I'm sorry please continue". Jade nodded and put her body onto the bed before she then looked over at Jaden and went on with her history lesson "But at that moment before he could get the help he needed Nathan had been attacked by the leader named Lord Acheron who had Oblivion's essence with him plus had been waiting for the right moment and the right host."  </p><p>Jade was soon done with her tea and so as she placed it to the side she said "So as Acheron inserted the essence into Nathan's body it flowed with Oblivion's power. But Nathan didn't know how much pain he would be in due to not knowing about Oblivion and so he was in mortal pain as he was now having his being be transformed into Lord Oblivion's due to his essence corrupting his DNA and blood over time and it stayed that way while he had been taken somewhere ."</p><p>Jaden then asked " So what does this mean? am I supposed to blame our ancestors for this ?" with a raised eyebrow and disbelief in his voice due to his reluctance to give any negative feelings to his ancestors and older family. Jade shook her head and said " If you want to but just so you know Nathan felt horrible about what happened and left a message for whoever had Oblivion's essence in their being.</p><p>Jade then said " I found the message in an old journal and I'm guessing it's meant for you, I'm not sure. But I remember that the message read: If you read this I'm guessing that you are the one who has my burden in you and so I must let you know that these events are NOT your fault. No the blame for Oblivion existing in you is mine to take and I truly regret what happened in the past that caused him to now live in you so know this: you can get through this if you have people beside you that can keep you stable and loved" Jade then got up before sitting next to Jaden and said, " I don't know what he meant by that but I do know that it means something good and so I want you to remember that you did nothing wrong." </p><p>Then she turned his head to look at her as she continued " I also want you to know that you have people who love and care about you".Jaden nodded before she finished "You should also know that I feel that you don't deserve to be Oblivion's vessel ok?" before Jaden nodded in understanding. Jaden then looked at Jade with a sudden yet pleasant-sounding question in his mind before he said " So I'm guessing I'm named after you or something ?" with the woman nodding and smiling in agreement for a moment.  Then she replied, " yeah your mother's main wish was for you to have a good life and since I have been healthy for a while she gave you that name so you can be like me". </p><p>Jaden smiled in happiness at some news about his biological mother and sat down before he began asking Jade some questions about herself for a while and as the time went by the two family relatives chatted for some time before it was time that Jaden wanted to get going and go home. But then Jade's face hardened as she remembered something crucial yet cruel about Nathan, and turned to Jaden before she said " I also have to tell you that when Nathan was infused with Oblivion's essence it corrupted him for the rest of his life,  so then as time went on his bloodline which soon became known as Knight bloodline became corrupted with one person from the bloodline being host to the Tainted Blood, which is what Oblivion's essence is called now " </p><p>Jaden's eyes widened in shock at this revelation before he cleared his throat and said: " I will let Master Kaine know about this " while at the same time he tried to understand how important this was to him. Then Ryan came into the room and asked " You ready to go back ?" with a raised eyebrow which Jaden nodded at before he kissed Jade's cheek, and said " Let's make this a regular thing ok? I would like to get to know you" with a smile on his face which Jade returned before nodding. </p><p>On the way out of the asylum, Jaden looked over at Ryan who was focused on the way back to the base before he said " I like her she seems like a good person that I can get to know " which Ryan smiled at. Then Ryan said " I agree and I hope you can find more people that are part of your family" as he pulled into the driveway of a small coffee shop. At the same time in a medium-sized building with a pentagram on it, a man with the same hair and eye color as the man that Jaden was hunting stood in front of two men who were sneering at him and said " You have been accused of conspiring against me which is something I do not take lightly, I have been betrayed once before and I will NOT stand for it as I trusted you and you attempted to strike back at me  " with a cold glare in his eyes.</p><p>While this happened he had his hands on his pistol and at the same time a marking was shown on his arm which was in the form of a raven with silver reddish eyes and a star on its head, and so as the man walked to the front of the room one of the men said " you will always be one of them Zane you can't run from what happened to you " before Zane's eyes hardened and said " I don't care about that " before he turned to face them.</p><p>Then he whispered "but you must know I do not take betrayal of any kind lightly " before lunging forward and shooting the first guy in the head. As he then holstered his gun Zane threw a small dagger into the neck of the second man and said " I will pay the Strikers back in blood for what they did" with hate and anger filled glare on his face.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Julianna and Kaine plus Jaden's quest for info</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Julianna and Kaine chat about Jaden as well as Jaden out for new info</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Julianna got out of her post-workout shower and headed to her closet to pick out her clothes for the day she was thinking to herself " I should go check out what the other Strikers have to say about Jaden I mean it might be cool to find out new info about him and see what they think " before she grabbed her boots, and pulled them on while holding her phone in her hand.</p><p>Once she was done Julianna was cooking her small breakfast of eggs and some fruit in a bowl before she heard her doorbell ring, and so as she carried the bowl of fruit the bounty hunter placed it on the table near the door before she turned the knob. Then to her surprise found Jaden standing there with a smile on his face and a box of pastries in his hands which he held out to her, and said " I thought maybe we could have breakfast together if you're not busy I mean " with a little bit of wariness in his voice.</p><p>Julianna picked up on this at that moment before she shook her head, and at the same time said: " No it's just I started to make my food but you can come in if you want". Jaden smiled and nodded before he walked into the kitchen and asked " So what are you doing today if I could know?" with a raised eyebrow before Julianna shook her hair out of her face. Then she said, " Well I was hoping I could go to your headquarters and find out more about you if you're ok with that."</p><p>Then she took a bite of her eggs and continued to say " I mean if you don't want me to know more about you without talking to you first it's ok " which Jaden held his hands up at, and said in an assuring tone " It's cool I just want you to be alert that there might be some things that my comrades tell you that might be worrying ok?" while running his hand down the wall to help clear some of the thoughts in his head. Julianna smiled softly, and hugged him with one arm before she asked: " So what are you doing today since I'm heading out to the base?".</p><p>Jaden was then smiling back at her and returned the hug before he replied " I'm going to see if there's any other info that is about any other family members out there you know ?" which Julianna whistled in awe before she kissed his cheek, and said " Hope it works out for you " as she grabbed her phone and finished up her food, while Jaden helped her clean up.</p><p>Then they headed out to their cars, and as Jaden rolled down his window he said " Let me know what happens ok? Be safe out there I think there are some Strikers that don't like me "which Julianna nodded at.</p><p>She then said " Sure thing you let me know what happens on your end too" with Jaden putting his glasses on and they went their separate ways. As Julianna parked in the parking lot of the coffee shop that was near the Striker HQ she looked down at her phone before she texted her close friend Natasha.</p><p>Natasha was a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who lived right next to her in the part of the district she lived in, and so she sent " Hey it's me I have an errand to do, and so I'll meet you later ok?" as she put her phone away and got out of her car before she pinched her nose to keep a sneeze away. Then she muttered to herself " Let's get this going" and walked towards the building. Julianna walked into the lobby of the headquarters and asked the receptionist " Hello is Master Kaine here ?" with an air of politeness in her voice before Kaine walked in front of her.</p><p>Kaine then said " Hello what can I do for you miss?" with Julianna smiling at the leader of the Strikers as she said " Hey there I'm Julianna, and I am Jaden's friend which made me want to know more about him unless I'm intruding on any secrets or something " with a raised eyebrow which Kaine shook his head at, and replied, " No it's fine please come with me ". As Kaine led Julianna down the hall to the stairs which led to the upper floor he asked " So how do you know Jaden if I can ask? "</p><p>Julianna raised her eyebrow before he elaborated " it's not that I have a problem with it, hell far from it I want him to have more friends but at the same time it's interesting you know ?" with Julianna smiling at the older man before she said, " It's ok well we met a while ago when I was on a case and he was in the area, and so we got to talking for some time before we had to split which ended with both of us working together from time to time".</p><p>Kaine nodded with a cheerful expression on his face and replied "Well good to know that he has someone to turn to " before he opened his office and then led his guest into the room where he asked " Can I get you a drink Juli ?" with Julianna smiling at the nickname he gave her. She then replied " No it's fine I had something before I left home " which Kaine nodded at and sat down at his chair in the corner of the room.</p><p>Then he asked " Now if you want to sit down right there " as Kaine pointed to a couch in the front of him " we can begin " which Julianna nodded at before sitting down and crossed her legs as Kaine rubbed his nose. The air was full of mystery and curiosity which Julianna could sense and so she said " So what can I ask first? I mean I want to get a good idea of Jaden's personality as well as how he acts when he's around his fellow Strikers so what do you want to tell me ?" with Kaine looking sorrowful for some time.</p><p>Gathering his thoughts the leader of the Strikers said " Firstly I must tell you that some of this info might shock or worry you so be careful ok?, plus it might scar your opinion and idea of who Jaden is so I don't want you to be turning against him for some reason " which Julianna nodded at with a sad expression on her face as she replied " I could never turn against Jaden for whatever he does or whatever happens to him " with conviction in her voice.</p><p>Kaine sighed in relief before he said: " let me start from when Jaden was taken into the Strikers after he had been adopted". Julianna nodded at this as she was ok with whenever Kaine could start with. So then Kaine said " When we found Jaden after he had been adopted he had been defending his family from a gang of dark creatures called The Blood Ring who had been living in that area. So at that time, the creatures had attempted to attack his parents and drain them of their blood which would transform them into the group's slaves."</p><p>Kaine then sighed before he rubbed his shoulder and continued his memory " So, at that time, Jaden had defended his older siblings while at the same time killing his attackers which had impressed my second in command of the group named Daniel. In the next moment, Daniel had gone up to Jaden and helped him heal before asking him " How did you find the strength to protect your family if I may ask ?" with Jaden who had said, " they don't deserve any of this that we go through".</p><p>Then he had squeezed his mother's shoulder and continued "so if I have to I'll go as far into the darkness as I can go ".Kaine then turned to Teresa and asked quietly into her ear " Are you ok with this? I won't sugarcoat this your son will be doing things that you won't like as that's what Strikers do but I want to make sure you can be ok with his decision". Teresa looked over at her husband who nodded and she replied " Yes if it means the world to him then we'll support him." and so they came towards us before I had asked, " Want to join the Strikers?". </p><p>Once he was done with that Julianna smiled before she asked " How much time do we have for this?  I want to do some more research later if that's ok with you sir?" which Kaine then checked his phone for a moment. Kaine then asked one last question with his voice being worried as he said " Do you know that I saw what was inside him when we did some medical examinations ?" with Julianna shaking her head in confusion before he saw the scene in his mind: Kaine and a nurse named Lacey led Jaden into a medical room where he sat on a bed with Lacey wearing a blue medical shirt and pants as she asked, " So how are you feeling today?"  </p><p>Jaden was then nodding his head as he said: " I'm ok a little confused but ok". Lacey then said " we're going to check you for anything that might be detrimental to you ok?" and Jaden nodded as she began to check him over. It was fine for a few moments until she saw the mark on his face and as she leaned in to touch it Jaden screamed in pain as his voice turned demonic and malice-filled while it said "Come Close and I'll feed on your blood!" which freaked Lacey out before she rushed back as the possessed Jaden walked forward the mark on his face glowing. but then Kaine held a syringe to Jaden's arm and said to Teresa" this will sedate him I promise" which sated her worry. Jaden then fell unconscious as they led him to a guest room. Kaine woke up at that moment as Julianna looked over at him.  </p><p>Then Kaine saw the time as it said 1.30 before he said " How about we make arrangements for whenever you have time to come over and I'll tell you more ok?" which Julianna nodded at and replied " sure thing sir" before she got up and then shook Kaine's hand a moment later before she was heading to the library. At the same time, Jaden pulled into the coffee shop and went inside with annoyance on his mind as thoughts ran through it due to his mood for the moment.</p><p>The thoughts ranged from " I can't believe I couldn't find anything at the general store, I mean there should be someone that knows someone from my family" to " Great I should probably go ask Jade if she knew anyone close to the family " and so he got his coffee before sitting down and opened his phone before he asked the receptionist at the asylum " Hi Janice I was wondering if I can speak to Jade " with Janice on the other end replying with a sweet tone " Sure Jaden one moment ".</p><p>Jade picked up the phone and asked " Hi sweetheart what can I do for you ?" with Jaden asking " Do you know anyone close to you that could tell me about possible members of the family ?".</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Meeting Ryan and dealing with Oblivion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden meets someone new as well as deal with the source of the Tainted Blood</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Early that next day Julianna was running into her room after having done a drop off at the small bounty cash in place as she went there during different days to get money for her gear and life.  After that, she then got into the shower to relax her muscles as she had taken a few injuries during a hunt the last two days due to the criminals she had been hunting being a bit tougher for her to beat.  These hunts were good as it tested her skills, and at the same time since it was the weekend she had some time to herself which she wanted to spend getting some errands done. So as Julianna finished her shower she saw a message that seemed to come from Jaden which seemed important for her to see and so she tapped it as she ate some cereal.</p><p>Once she was done Julianna read to herself " Hey it's me, I don't know if you were still looking for more info on me but I wanted to suggest my friends so you could talk to Russell, Scott, or my teacher Ryan " which made Julianna's interest show on her face as she had wanted to meet his fellow Strikers and his mentor for some time.  So she got some food into her body before hopping onto her car. Then she drove out onto the streets before picking up her usual drink for the morning.</p><p>On the way into the Striker base Julianna stopped to ask a young woman with pixie styled hair and grey eyes " Hi do you know if Ryan is here? he's supposed to be Jaden's mentor" with the young woman pausing for a moment to think. She nodded in recognition and replied " Yeah I know who you're talking about he's in the analysis room" which Julianna smiled at and said in return " Thanks I'm Julianna".</p><p>The young woman was then smiling back as she replied " I'm Lauren" before Lauren asked " Need help going there ?" with Julianna nodding. So they headed to the upper floors with some silence between them which was fine for both of them. Lauren knocked on a door that had a plaque on it that read " Ryan Masterson " before Ryan walked out of the room. The man smiled at them as he said " What can I do for you two ladies?" with a raised eyebrow before Lauren said " I don't need anything but Julianna here" as she said this Lauren nodded at Julianna " wanted to see you for something" which Julianna nodded at.</p><p>Julianna said " I think we can handle this " which Lauren nodded to before she headed down to her room. As Ryan said " Ok well let's chat in my office " he opened the door before leading Julianna into the medium-sized room which had a bed and a desk that had his chair in front of it with his gear and combat outfit on the seat. So then Julianna said with a little bit of awe in her voice " Nice setup you have here invite any ladies over ?" which Ryan chuckled at.</p><p>At that moment he sat on the bed and replied: " No I'm unfortunately a bachelor, but enough about that what can I do for you ?". Julianna sighed and asked, " So what can you tell me about Jaden that can help me get a better view of him in my mind, I want to understand him a bit better and so I hope to get some more information a little bit at a time ". Ryan nodded after hearing this as it made some sense to him. But at the same time, he could tell from her tone that Julianna cared for Jaden a great deal but he didn't know what level it went Jaden's.</p><p>So he got off the bed before he asked Julianna " is it ok if I get you anything ?" with the young bounty hunter shaking her head as she replied "no I'm good but thanks " with a smile on her face which Ryan nodded at before he sat down and said " Well do you know what lies in Jaden's body like do you know what he bears in his blood ?" which Julianna nodded and said, " I know the majority of it as in I know it's something that was passed down from his ancestors ".</p><p>Ryan swallowed some water before he replied: " Ok well I remember seeing this thing when I was on a mission with Jaden during his first year with us and it freaked me out a great ton". Then as he thought of this Ryan's mind brought up a scene from that day: Ryan had been moving through a street with his pistol out while Jaden had his dagger out with his eyes moving back and forth keeping an eye out for anything that could attack them.</p><p>Ryan whispered to Jaden " Keep your guard up you don't know what might jump out at us " which Jaden nodded at before he said " I sense something near our position, on my mark roll to that trash can " Jaden then pointed to a trash can next to a building that looked like a small grocery store " then we'll see what is there " before Ryan nodded.   Jaden then said " Now !" with Ryan rolling to the trash can before he looked forward and found a dead body with a note on the torso.</p><p>The note said " Keep trying Pricks " which amused Jaden for the moment before he said, " So far so good". At that moment Jaden felt pain shooting up his arm in a fierce wave and so he gripped his eye which was also hurting as well as evidenced by his marked eye seemingly pulsing. At that moment a pair of men clad in black leather jackets and black pants came towards them with small knives held out in front of them. The man on the left said, " Well lookie here Keith, two little bitty Strikers " which amused his partner due to the tone of the man's voice.</p><p>So Keith said " I know that Leo but we have some prey to hunt " as he charged forward with Leo behind him, and so Ryan shouted to Jaden " Split up now!" as he moved to the side with Leo in front of him. While that was going on Jaden gripped his arm while also holding his knife as Keith smirked in amusement, and replied to this with " You can't win little boy, so just give in and this will be over " before Jaden sheathed his knife. He then threw a smoke grenade that erupted in smoke and allowed Jaden time to roll behind Keith and punch him in the back so he fell onto his knees.</p><p>Ryan smirked at this before headbutting his foe and at the same time wrapped his hands in cuffs before heading over to help Jaden out. But he was too late before Jaden was shot in the ribs which Jaden gasped at due to the suddenness of the act. But then the marking on his face glowed ominously and Jaden's voice changed to a menacing and sadistic one as he said: " LET THE BLOODBATH BEGIN!". Jaden's hand reached out and gripped Keith's neck with sudden strength in his hand before he said: "Now let's see what I can do to you Heh Heh Heh". Ryan looked horrified that this thing was in his student's body and so he tried to get up and stop him but he knew that he couldn't do much as whatever was inside Jaden was strong  </p><p>Then with a twitch of his hand, Keith's neck was snapped and his body fell to the floor which Ryan was shocked by as he looked over at Jaden who smirked coldly, and then said " You'll be seeing a lot of me soon " before Jaden fell unconscious. Ryan picked him up before they went back to the base. Ryan sighed to himself as he sat down in his office before he said to himself "That was something I don't know how to think about as it shows that Jaden could potentially lose control." It worried Ryan that this could be a problem not just for him and for the Strikers but Jaden if he has to deal with what's inside him. It then hit Ryan that this might have something to do with Jaden's unknown heritage </p><p>Ryan rubbed his eyes before continuing his thoughts with "But I do not want that to hurt him so I need to let Master Kaine know " and fell asleep. In the real world, Ryan said " That was scary and I hope that we can keep Jaden from finding some reason to give in you know ?" with Julianna nodding in agreement as she had kept quiet before she said " Yeah I do and I thank you for giving me some more insight into Jaden so if you don't mind I have to go.</p><p>Julianna got up from her spot before patting herself down and replying "In the meantime, I'll see if we can have some more time to get to know each other ok?". Ryan smiled and helped Julianna to the entrance of the base before he said " Sure I'll be waiting " with Julianna nodding as she walked to her vehicle. Then she drove to a small bakery near her place of residence before sitting down with a cup of coffee.</p><p>As Julianna sipped her drink she also exhaled a breath of relief while she thought to herself "Now that that's over with I can focus on some of my missions. But also at the same time offer what help I can give to Jaden, I wonder what he's doing now ?". At the same time, Jaden was pulling out of the Striker headquarters and was now on his way to a small bit of civilization in the northern part of the area to see if there was someone named Charlie Garrison that could help him find anyone connected to his family.</p><p>Jaden had been told by Jade that there might be something that Charlie knows and so he thought it was worth a look. So as Jaden pulled onto the street and began his drive he thought to himself " Let's see how this goes " with eagerness and excitement in his body.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Meeting Charlie and Julianna going out for new info bits</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden meets Charlie and Julianna heads out to get new info</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The trip to the small town of Nova Romus was full of interest for Jaden as he hoped to find something that could start his search for his parents and at the same time also help him in his mission of finding out how to stop the "visitor". That was what he called Oblivion due to needing some way to know what the being was, and at the same time need to stop him from controlling his body. So as he drove into the entrance to the town through the gate that was in the middle of the road Jaden thought to himself " So I should probably start with talking to some people that live here as that can't hurt too much."</p><p>Jaden then rubbed his eye as he continued to think" I mean who could hurt anyone in this town" before he parked his car in the parking lot of a small bar and hopped out before locking his vehicle. Then he looked around for a moment before walking into the front part of the bar which looked pretty empty due to not that many people being there. The door opened with an almost silent hiss as Jaden walked into the bar section of the establishment and sat down on a seat before he looked up at a man with a mug in his hand and a towel in the other.</p><p>Jaden then said " Is it ok to order anything now or are you busy?" with the man raising his eyebrow, and said at the same time " What do you want? I'm not that busy right now " before Jaden shook his head in confirmation and replied, "I'll take some ale if you got it". The bartender nodded and moved over to the drinks section which had a lot of different liquors and drinks before he took out some ale and poured it into a mug.  While this happened, at the same time Jaden asked " Can I ask you something, Do you know if there's anyone here by the name of Charlie Garrison?" with some hope for a good answer in his voice which the bartender nodded to as he set the drink down.</p><p>He then said " Yes I can definitely tell you that Charlie Garrison lives in a small section of the town a couple of miles down, but I must inform you there hasn't been many people here so if you don't see anyone be wary of what you hear" with Jaden raising his eyebrow in confusion as this seemed suspicious to him before he said " Sure thing Mr ?" and the bartender said " My name is Aaron Kingston young Striker " which Jaden nodded at as he didn't question how the bartender knows about Strikers. Then Jaden was dropping some money onto the bar which Aaron picked up and put behind the bar before walking out to his car and sighing in unease as he sat down.</p><p>Jaden then said to himself " I wonder why there are not that many people here, I mean this doesn't seem like a bad place or maybe I don't have all the details yet " before starting his car up and sending Julianna "I'm working on getting some info from a friend of my parents so I'll talk to you later" before he pulled out of the lot. Jaden then drove to a gate that had a guard in front of it who was the only one there. The guard looked to be almost asleep due to boredom before Jaden got out and said " Yo can I go through ?" into the speaker in the front of the booth. This got the guard waking up and said " Sure thing mister " while rubbing his eyes in sleepiness before he opened the gate and allowed Jaden through.</p><p>Jaden's first viewing of the town showed a small set of houses that were on the left side of the road while on the right side sat two large apartments that curiously had no cars or any signs of people living there which intrigued Jaden due to the feeling of curiosity flowing through him. As he slowly drove in the street the sight in front of him made him think " Ok this is weird but I haven't seen much so I'll keep my eyes out for anything" before Jaden pulled into a small parking space in front of a pair of houses.</p><p>The houses had blue and green paint on them along with two windows on the front that seemingly had no one in the rooms that the windows were in front of and so Jaden got out of the car and shut it off before grabbing his phone and pistol as he said quietly " Ok now let's be quiet about this " before closing the door and locking it with a click. Then Jaden turned around and headed over to the first house that he seemed to get a weird feeling from.</p><p>It was a feeling which he didn't know what to call as he had also felt this with Jade but to a lesser degree with the feeling being kinda warm yet supernatural as in it made him feel good yet wary. So then after Jaden knocked on the door a man opened the door with one hand as the other was holding a plate of pie with a smirk on his face as if he knew that this was happening.  Jaden then raised an eyebrow before he said " Hi I'm Jaden and I was wondering if you knew where I could find Charlie Garrison?" which the man with the pie chuckled to due to an image coming into his mind which amused him. Then he said " Kid I'M Charlie Garrison and I'm happy to meet you, so why don't you come in, and we can talk about what I'm guessing you're here for ?" with Jaden nodding in shock.</p><p>The two males walked into the living room which had a couch and two chairs in front of the fire while there was also a big tv on the wall as well as a remote on the table which looked pretty expensive as well as some pillows on the couch near the ends which Jaden whistled at in awe as he didn't think he could spend that much before he said " cool set-up here must have taken a decent amount of time to get right huh?" with Charlie chuckling as he opened the fridge door and took out some coffee in a small bag since he wanted to make some for the moment.</p><p>Then he said, " yeah it did take some time and money but I enjoy it as it makes me relax, now I was wondering if you wanted some coffee ?" with Jaden nodding in agreement due to being somewhat thirsty and so as he stepped towards the table and sat down Charlie began to make the coffee. While the coffee was being brewed Jaden had some thoughts going in his head which went from "Wonder how he knows my parents " to " Hope I can find something useful to help find my family or at least what's left" before he was handed a cup of the newly brewed liquid and he held it to see how hot it was.</p><p>Jaden smiled at Charlie and said " Great thanks " with a smile before he sipped some which tasted great to him and at the same time tried to get his thoughts for some minutes. It was a few seconds before he asked " How do you know my parents? I don't know what to ask really so I hope this can start my knowledge of my family you know ?" with a bit of worry in his tone and Charlie nodded in understanding as he sipped some of his coffee which had some milk in it before he put the cup down and put the can of coffee grinds into the fridge.</p><p>After he walked over to the table Charlie said " I get it and I want to say that you might not like what I say but know that your parents loved you and hated to leave you I swear on my life about that" with Jaden not knowing what to say. Charlie looked down at his watch on his wrist as the minutes went by before he spoke: " I remember meeting your father in the Academy for the Military as we wanted to join the Black Rangers and so we were in the same class level due to being the same age which also meant that we wanted to know each other and make a connection between us so we could have each other's back you know?".</p><p>Jaden nodded as he swallowed a lot more of his coffee and motioned with his hand as to say " Continue " which Charlie nodded to and said, " Well we were on a training mission and we were suddenly assaulted by rogue members of the Guards who wanted to use us for bait so they could kill our leaders who were high-level Rangers " after which Charlie sighed and drank the last bit of his coffee before continuing" But then your father offered himself up to save me and our teammates, Cameron and Miles who were new to the field and so we didn't want them to die. "</p><p>Jaden was shocked by this but listened on as Charlie said "Then the enemies were about to strike when your father snapped out and killed two of them before our leaders Luke and Matt calmed him down and led us to the end of the mission where we talked about our lives and other topics for some time. Then in his mind, Charlie saw his younger self holding a pistol in one hand while his other hand laid on Grant's shoulder as he said: "you ok bro?" with Grant turning around and snarled "YOU'RE ALL DEAD" in a demonic sounding voice before he rushed forward and slaughtered the first two soldiers with a clawed hand to the chest which he then ripped out of them before turning around and grabbing his dagger. </p><p>Then he stabbed into the third man's chest and then said " Nighty Night" with a sadistic smirk on his face as he was about to strike before he gripped his chest and said, " let me go now".  Charlie helped his superiors go over to Grant before they helped him to his feet and he said " Thanks guys". Charlie then turned to Jaden before he said "At the end of our second talk that we had in the base later in the night Grant (which is your father's name) said to me " I know that there is a great heart inside of you and I hope we can keep our new relationship going don't you?" and I said, " I definitely would ".</p><p>Charlie smiled at the memory before he walked over to his sink and started to wash the mugs which Jaden asked " Would you like any help Charlie ?" before the man smiled and replied, " No I got it but thank you". and then sat back down before he asked " now I understand you know about your "Bloodline" ?" with Jaden nodding and said to Charlie " Yeah I've been experiencing it for some time now, do you know anything about it ?".</p><p>Charlie snapped his fingers and said " Yeah I was unfortunate to see it's power when your father was about to die during a mission to get intel for our commanding officers, he had gone berserk and killed several bandits before he was knocked unconscious " which Jaden grimaced at before he said " Hey thanks for telling me all this and I'll see if I will need any other info from you ok?" with Charlie smiling and replying " sure thing kid thanks for coming ".</p><p>Charlie then helped Jaden to the door before watching the young Striker open his car and drive out to the street. On the way home Jaden was jamming out to his phone for the next few minutes until he reached the small park near his second home and so he was pulling into a spot before his phone went off which he answered with " Yeah what's up?" as he saw it was Kaine who said " Jaden there's an alert from the weapons facility in the outlands of the city so I need you and two other Strikers to go and check it out ok? "</p><p>Kaine then cleared his throat before adding "I can have you pick out the other two members so come back to the base and I'll let you know the details " to which Jaden nodded and said " Sure thing boss I'll be right there" and pulled out of the parking spot before heading to the base. At the same time, Julianna was heading out of the library due to her frustration with the fact that there had been no info on Oblivion in the building and so she had needed to find someone who knew about the dark being.</p><p>Then she had been confronted by a man in a white jacket with a pair of swords in a cross formation who had said " If you want to know more about Oblivion come to meet me at this location when you can " before handing her a piece of paper. so Julianna hopped into her car and drove away with her thoughts being "What will happen now ?".</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. The mission into the facility</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jaden now goes onto a mission to get some details about what's going on</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the most recent few hours of the day, Jaden had one thought going through his head while he was driving to the base where he would be meeting up with his team before they headed to their mission point, and that thought was " Can't these people go any faster I mean come on! get the hell out of my way " as a tick mark was forming on Jaden's forehead which usually indicated that he was angry or annoyed in some way. Usually, he can be calm or in a good mood for most of his day with his mood never getting upset or angered, but when it did you did not want to see him snap and so this was surprising for anyone who would have been in the car with him. </p><p>The situation that was happening seemed to be that there was a good deal of cars and vehicles in front of him which caused him to be somewhat slow which annoyed him as he was worried he would not be able to get to his team, and so this caused Jaden's annoyance/irritation to rise till he opened his phone and scrolling through his contacts said " Call Kaine " with his phone replying " Calling Master Kaine" before it went to his boss's number. In the next few minutes, the call went through until Kaine replied with " What can I do for you?". Jaden said in an annoyed tone " Master, I'm stuck in some traffic so I might be a bit late to meet with the others before we go to the mission ok?". </p><p>As he heard his subordinate's irritated voice Kaine thought to himself " Jaden seems annoyed that's a first, let's see what's going to happen and I think the team can wait a few moments ." before he turned to his phone. Kaine nodded to himself as this was a reasonable excuse before he said ' That's fine Jaden I understand and I'll let them know now be careful " which Jaden replied " Sure thing".</p><p>Then as he pulled into the lane that to his now increasing anger showed more cars in front of him. Jaden growled to himself before he said " If this keeps up I'll kick someone " with one of his eyebrow twitching. At the same time, Jaden could feel his head pounding and his desire to go to the base increasing by the minute before he said to himself " Calm down this will be over soon"</p><p>Surprisingly this caused Obilivon to smirk to himself as he stood in his prison before he said quietly " Oh yes keep this up it's great to hear you get angry" with a sarcastic chuckle which Jaden snorted to himself at as he was able to hear it in his mind which annoyed yet amused him at the same time. Jaden pulled into the garage before grabbing his phone and headed up to his room before getting what he needed. He punched in the code he used for his room into the code reader on the wall which turned green as if it said "Here you go " and he walked into his living space. </p><p>The room had an area for his gear which laid in his black case which was on his desk near the door where Jaden sat and did his reports for Kaine, and at the same time also spent his time relaxing. At the moment what he took was not much as it was just his pistol, daggers, and phone as well as his radio which acted as a second mode of communication, and combined with his skills it meant Jaden would be fine. As Jaden put his gear in the right spots he looked over at a picture that sat on his desk which was of him, Russell, and Scott who accompanied him on different missions after they had gotten to know each other through training and could be trusted to have his back and so this made him smile as he knew he would be ok.</p><p>Then Jaden was now heading to the lobby where he saw Russell, Scott, a young man named Tyler who was one of Jaden's closest friends next to the aforementioned men, and one other member standing next to Russell. This was a young woman with blue streaks in her dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes which showed friendly and warm intentions even though her body language said "Don't mess with me", and as she walked up to Jaden and held out her hand she said " Nice to meet you I'm Olivia, you must be Jaden from the description I was given" to which Jaden nodded at as he was somewhat curious about this new Striker.</p><p>Then he shook her hand as he replied " Yeah that's me I understand you know what we're out to do ?" which Olivia nodded to as she had read the mission briefing, and at the same time had been told anything important on the mission by Master Kaine. So she then said " I got the gist of it and we're all set to go " as she waved her hands at Russell and Scott who nodded in agreement to Jaden who then motioned his head over to Tyler who also nodded in understanding. The team headed into the garage before Jaden opened the trunk of his car and said " Whoever's driving with me put your gear in here ok? then we'll grab it before we head into the mission target" with Russell and Olivia saluting him in mock seriousness.  </p><p>This motion amused Jaden as he turned on the car as it showed him that his team was able to keep a calm mind and at the same time be humorous and so Jaden then closed the trunk before he sat down and looked over at Olivia who sat down next to him and raised his eyebrow before he said " Oh so you can sit there? alright if we get through this you buy us drinks ok?" with humor in his voice which Olivia picked up and smirked at as she said " Sure thing sir" with playful mockery in her tone as well. </p><p>As he sat down Jaden then plugged in his phone as some of his favorite band which was a rock band that was known as "The Black Rippers" due to their songs which were pretty damn violent and at the same time great in Jaden's mind due to it fitting his moods at times which is why he liked them due to the songs keeping his mind calm when he's training. At that moment the first song began playing through the speakers which intrigued Olivia. So she said " So this is an interesting song do you love this band ?" with Russell smirking at his friend with an amused look on his face and playful teasing in his voice as he replied to the question. </p><p>Russell cleared his throat and said "Yeah, he plays it a lot when we train so I would suggest letting it affect you as it won't stop being a thing we do" which Olivia smiled at as it sounded good to her. On the way out of the garage onto the street Jaden said into his earpiece connected to his phone " Ok guys let me know if you can hear me ". He put the communication device down and waited for some time before he then heard his friend's voice through the earpiece. </p><p>At that moment Scott cleared his throat and responded: "Yeah I'm here bro don't worry we can hear you", and then as he said this he looked over at Tyler who nodded with an anxious look on his face and said into his device " Yes sir I'm here as well over and out" which Jaden sighed at as he didn't like being called sir but knew it was cause he was older and more experienced, and so he said, " Ok firstly Tyler we're all comrades here so no "Sir" unless we're at the base, and secondly good to know that we can help you " with a calm and reassuring tone in his voice.</p><p>Jaden then said " Keep an eye out for anyone that could impede our progress till we get to the site ok?" with the others replying "Yeah", "got it", "alright bro," and finally "Sure thing " and so they headed down the street with many people watching them with awe and respect due to their knowledge of Strikers and what they did to protect the world which made Jaden and his team feel good knowing that they kept people safe. It was at the last corner of the highway that Jaden was coming through when he noticed a pair of bikes coming behind him and his other teammate's car. </p><p>The bikes were black and grey with lines going down them and the riders having black and blue suits with some weapons on their bodies and helmets that kept their faces covered so Jaden couldn't see who was now attacking them and decided to take them out so they would not be impeded on their mission. </p><p>So then he barked into his earpiece " Guys! We got trouble behind us !" with Russell responding " Sure bro I'll get them off our tail" as the other team members were now noticing the new enemies and wanted to get away from them. Russell grabbed his pistol out of his holster that was on his left hip before he was then aiming the pistol to hit the target out of the window and said to himself " Bulleyes jerk" before he fired a shot which headed to the tire in the front. This shot then hit the tire in a critical spot which caused it to blow up and knocked the bike onto the road behind them with the side effect being the bike flying away and the driver now hitting a sign.</p><p>Russell smirked and said " Go ahead bro he's knocked out " with Jaden nodding to himself due to the knowledge that they were almost to their mission point before he drove through a tunnel which led into a big building which had a red circle in the middle along with a set of sliding doors in the front as well as two ramps leading into the garage.  There was an elevator as well that led to the upper lobby which the two teams noticed and planned to use to go up in the building. Jaden parked his vehicle and said to the others in the car behind him through the earpiece " alright follow me and we'll see what will be inside " as the teams pulled into the medium-sized parking spaces. </p><p>Russell was then replying " sure thing " as he followed his friend's car into the garage with Jaden in front of him before they parked in two spaces that were in front of the elevator which had one person in it that looked weirded out by the two groups of people coming into the building. The guard in the elevator had a confused look on his face as he stepped out of the booth by the elevator due to needing to keep an eye out for any suspicious people before he said: "Can I help you and your group sir?" as he looked over at Jaden who turned to his group and shook his head as to say " Let me handle this guys " with the others nodding in agreement.</p><p>Then he replied, " no we're just going up, we've been called to check out the building " which the guard nodded to with skepticism written on his face which caused Russell to step up and continue the conversation with " We're Strikers sir so we have a reason to be here " which the guard who's tag said Marco responded to with " ok go ahead" as he didn't want to get in the middle of this and stepped to the side as Jaden and Russell led the Strikers into the elevator with anxious looks on their faces. The elevator activated and they stepped inside.</p>
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